vote. it's going to be a beautiful day. good morning. now it's your turn. america heads to the polls today to choose who will be in the white house for the next four president obama and governor romney neck and neck after will it be a long night that stretches into the morning? it's up to the voters today, tuesday, november 6th, 2012. from nbc news, this is a special edition of "today," election day 2012, with matt lauer and savannah guthrie live from democracy plaza. and welcome to "today," and democracy plaza on this tuesday morning, election day 2012. good morning, everyone.

i'm savannah guthrie. >> and i'm matt lauer, and it seems like we've been talking about this day for the better part of two years because we have been talking about this day for the better part of two years. it's already here. polling sites are open. we're seeing strong voter turnout es e personally in the swing states. >> mitt romney and his wife cast their votes about an hour ago. and just moments ago his running mate congressman paul ryan voted in his hometown of jamesville, wisconsin. >> vice president joe biden was among the first to vote in greenville, delaware. president obama not voting today. he performed his civic duty two weeks ago. he will spend today in chicago doing satellite interviews to reach voters in battleground sta states.

we will talk to top advisers from both campaigns to find out how they are feeling. >> we will start with the state of the race and a final snapshot of the contest from the polls. this is the most up-to-date national poll. president obama with a three-point lead over governor romn romney. we do know this race will be decided state by state tonight and the most prized, ohio, where president obama's advantage among likely voters has slunk to 1%. >> a sizable 14-point lead. and the results are already in for one new hampshire town. residents in dixville notch voted. began voting at midnight, that's traditional. five votes for the president and five for governor romney. again, this could be a very long night. >> so what are they saying about this race in the swing states where it matters? wisconsin's "journal sentinel" reports chilly, rainy forecast could affect voting. milwaukee-area voters could face the coldest election day in more

than 30 years, and "cincinnati enquirer" says it all. costly campaigns have come down to ohio. the campaigns have spent almost $2 billion so far this election making a combined 68 visits to ohio alone. >> all right. we have both campaigns covered starting with governor romney with peter alexander in belmont, massachusetts. peter, good morning to you. >> reporter: matt, good morning to you. at this time tomorrow mitt romney will either wake up as president-elect or return to life as a private citizen. we saw him a short time ago as he arrive d at his polling site alongside his wife ann. he was asked, who did you vote? he said, i think you already know. he's going to try to rally supporters and also thanked the volunteers in ohio and pennsylvania.

on the eve of the election mitt and ann romney enjoyed a rock star's welcome in the granite state. >> thank you, new hampshire! >> tomorrow your votes and your work right here in new hampshire will help me become the next president of the united states. >> reporter: after a six-year quest for the white house, the office now potentially within reach, mr. romney cast his campaign as a shared movement. >> this is much more than our moment. it's america's moment of renewal and purpose and optimism. we have journeyed together far and wide in this great campaign for america's future, and now we're almost home. one final push, and we'll get there. >> reporter: earlier during an interview on "monday night football" romney joked about the red sox and patriots championships during his term as massachusetts governor. >> hey, look, as a governor, you get blamed for everything that goes wrong, you might as we'll get the credit for what goes right. >> reporter: romney advisers insist turnout will be key, but

with polls showing the president clinging to an ever so slight advantage in the campaign's precious days mr. romney squeezed in five events in four battleground, each one strategically selected. from the affluent suburbs of northern virginia. >> i'm looking around to see if we have the beatles here or something that brought you, but it looks like you came just for the campaign, and i appreciate it. thank you. >> reporter: to central ohio. governor romney punctuated his long journey with a simple message. >> let's make sure that everyone we know gets out to vote on tuesday. >> reporter: and this hopeful promise. >> this nation is going to begin to change for the better tomorrow. >> reporter: and the romney campaign is exceedingly confident. top odd vierzs saying a short time ago saying we will win ohio. they dispute polls that show them trailing and show strength of support among independents

and a strong base. >> peter alexander, thanks. let's go to nbc's kristen welker at president obama's campaign headquarters in chicago. kristen, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning to you, savannah. vice president biden kicked things off by voting in delaware along with wife jill. they will head to chicago to watch election night returns with president obama. mr. obama voted two weeks ago here in chicago. those closest to the president say this is a moment filled with greatest anticipation and nostalgia. with an eye on his future, president obama reached back to the past. >> i've come back to iowa one more time to ask for your vote. >> reporter: the first lady by his side, the president held his final campaign event in iowa, the state which gave mr. obama his first 2008 victory launching his improbable and historic journey. an emotional night even for a president known for keeping his cool. >> when the cynics said we

couldn't, you said yes, we can. >> reporter: it capped a frenetic final day of campaigning with mr. obama traveling more than 1,000 miles to defend the midwest states he's expected to need for re-election, iowa, wisconsin and critical ohio. >> when you're making this choice, ohio, you have to remember that this isn't just about policy, it's also about trust. >> reporter: with the election so tight the president has made every second count in this final push stopping by a campaign office in columbus, making last-minute phone calls urging his supporters to turn out. >> we'll bring it home tomorrow. let's keep it going. >> reporter: and even appearing on "monday night football." >> in politics it's not winning elections, it's making sure that you're delivering for the folks who sent you. >> reporter: and while his top surrogates stormed the battleground states, some of the biggest names in entertainment also lent their voices, from jay-z. ♪ if we go for four more years >> reporter: to bruce springsteen who admitted he was rattled by that dismal first

debate. >> actually the first debate really freaked me out. >> reporter: and now after four years in office and months of intense campaigning. >> it's out of my hands now. it's in yours. >> reporter: voter turnout will decide this election. campaign officials say they feel confident about their get-out-the vote strategy. president obama will spend this day conducting interviews with ra radio stations and also try to fit in a traditional game of election day basketball. his advisers telling me that he e-mailed his former body man reggie love last week and asked him to start setting up that game. savannah? >> kristin welker in chicago, thank you. this race is expected to be determined by the slimmest of martins. chuck todd is nbc's political director and chief white house correspondent, and this morning he's mapping out what he calls the nightmare scenario that could drag the election into the days and weeks ahead. chuck, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, savannah.

>> yesterday we ran out of time. if you had a tie of 269-269, show us how that would be possible. >> reporter: let me show you how possible it is. the president won ohio and its 18 votes. you had wisconsin and its 10, either two states they feel good about. that's 269. all you'd have to have is mitt romney get florida, virginia, colorado, iowa, it's very close. the toughest state here to make this se ncenario work would be nevada. it's a state a that a lot of republicans and democrats slightly leans in the democratic category. but it's not an implausible scenario. if nobody got 270 then the house of representatives would decide who the president was, but the u.s. senate would vote on who the vice president was. that means the most likely outcome under this scenario is a

romney/biden scenario. >> another scenario if ohio is too close to call. >> here's the problem with ohio. they have a new law that says provisional ballots, and these are ballots that are questioned there, maybe somebody didn't bring an i.d., maybe a signature is off, they will let you vote, but you get put in a separate stack. they wouldn't even start counting them until november 17th. today is still november 6th. so in 11 days, let's say the margin is less than 50,000, there's likely to be over 200,000 provisional ballots cast in ohio. they wouldn't start counting those until 11 days. . they wouldn't start counting until then. it would make 2000 feel like a flakback for people. >> that brings us to our final nightmare scenario and that's if florida is too close to call.

what's changed since then and how do you see it playing out? >> two things there. if the margin is less than 50,000 votes and obama on the short end, democrats believe they can easily challenge the results in court because of two things. one, palm beach county they misprinted a ballot line. has to do with some judges. it's not like the old butterfly ballot. but they misprinted on 60,000 ballots. they say the ballots got treated as spoiled and were accidentally thrown out. the second, there's a law that says that they will check your signature on an absentee ballot. it gets moved to a pile. in the first election where this law was used, 3% of the ballots were in that category.

that's a lot of votes. so anything under 100,000 could be a challenge there. >> do you think we'll know the result by this time tomorrow morning? >> i think we'll have an idea. i wouldn't be surprised if there are three or four states we haven't fully called. i will say this. it's not certified, but we believe so and so is leading when all the votes are counted. but i worry about colorado, wisconsin, iowa, even florida. those are going to be razor thin. i wouldn't be surprised if we have multiple states we haven't called by this time tomorrow morning. earlier this morning we spoke to the senior adviser about the president's confidence. >> we felt the president would have a better reach to sit here and do some satellite interviews into states and make sure that the folks we have out getting

out our vote aren't burdened by supporting him coming into their state today. still undecided voters in the nine battleground states. >> let's look at the campaign that was. a key part of the obama campaign strategy was to discredit and disqualify governor romney from the outset. 85% of the president's ads were negative as of late october. for a president that was voted in four years ago on the promise of a new kind of politics, did he turn to the old kind of politics to win a second term? >> no, it's a choice between two competing visions. i think we wanted to make sure that the american people understood the president's vision of continuing to build this economy from the middle out and governor romney's vision of tax cuts showered on the wealthy in hopes that would lift the middle class despite the fact that that was what exactly got

us into that economic calamity. >> for people going to the polls today, people rehiring for four more years, there's a feeling they want changes. our recent poll had 62% of americans saying they want major changes in a second term. even voters who support the president want to see that he has learned something and knows where to improve. can you tell us where exactly he would plan to improve in a second term? >> we have a lot of work to get our economy moving. and continue to move this economy in a forward direction. we have seen positive jobs 32 consecutive months. we have more work to do. we have to bring jobs back here. >> i think he learns things every day. i think one of the things that each side is going to have to do is work together in order to get things done. we have to break this washington

gridlock. we have to break this notion that somehow particularly on the republican side in congress, that compromise is a dirty word or somehow if they don't get everything they want, they can't work at all with this president. i think the president is eager to sit down and solve problems with democrats and republicans and move this country forward. >> our interview with president obama's senior campaign adviser robert gibbs. >> we also talked to ed givel s gillesp gillespie. this has been a six-year quest for the governor and his staff. so we asked ed what kept him awake last night, what worries him the most about today. >> i slept pretty well last night. we feel very good. we have momentum at the end of this campaign. his message has resinated and his plan to create 12 million new jobs, we see incredible intensity on the part of our voters.

we're leaving nothing on the field. you'll see the governor out there today campaigning in cleveland, ohio, and pittsburgh, pennsylvania. we're looking forward to tonight. >> let me ask you about ohio. you talk about that state, obviously, all eyes on ohio. back on october 25th, the governor employed a strategy there talking to supporters, he said he read that "jeep is moving all production to china." . he followed that with ads that talked about chrysler and gm's plans to expand production. the reaction was swift and unanimous. they were painted as misleading by independent fact checkers, ohio newspapers said they were an exercise in disceps, a masterpiece of misdirection, and chrysler and gm called them inaccurate and campaign politics at its cynical worst. how can this happen it the son of a car maker and the guy who is supposed tor the business resume?

well, matt, the fact is the ad is accurate. the head of fiat came out and said they were going to open production in china for jeep. that's what the ad says. and that's accurate. if you -- >> but that's a different idea, ed. >> the governor has a great record. >> they are opening production for jeep in china because they are expanding markets. not because they are shipping jobs overseas, which seemed to be the message of the ad. >> no, that's not the message. the message of the ad is they are opening production in china. right now the jeeps sold in china are made in the united states. there was an original bloomberg report that said they were going to close the plant and ship jobs to china. that turned out to be not accurate but they were going to open production in china. we're currently shipping to china from the u.s. exporting there. this ad is accurate.

and the fact is if you care about the auto industry, you care about creating 1 million jobs in the economy and creating demand for domestic auto production, we don't have that in our economy today. and governor romney would turn the economy around and have rising incomes for people who have seen their incomes drop by $4,000 over the course of the obama presidency. that would do more for the american auto industry than anything. but the ad is accurate and e we standby it. we know the truth hurts sometimes, but it's the truth. >> on election day, candidates get sentimental about the things they have seen as they traveled the country over the last year. what do you think governor romney's major take away is going to be? what are the images that are going to last most for him? >> i think a number of them. one, small business owners who have told them they are going to have to close. family businesses, one woman in virginia closed a restaurant that has been in her family for

82 years as a result of the excessive regulations and taxes and obama care and the obama economy. single mothers who have come up to him and said i'm working two jobs because the pay, i can't get a full-time job and the pay for these jobs is so low. he's heard from countless americans and the pain that you hear out there in our economy is real, matt. it's something he's so anxious to get into the white house and turn things around and fix the economy and get rising incomes for people so they can have a sense of economic security. >> that was our interview with ed gilless pea. election night coverage starts at 7:00 p.m. eastern, 4:00 pacific time. now we want to head across the street to natalie. good morning to you. >> good morning, everyone. more than 1 million homes and businesses are still in the dark today as new york and new jersey struggle to recover after superstorm sandy. this as dropping temperatures and a new storm bare down on the region.

a nor'easter set to slam the region on wednesday. state officials are working to ease the voting process for displaced people allowing voters in emergency zones to vote at any polling station they can access. prosecutors at lewis mccord say that staff sergeant robert bales went on a killing spree in two afghan villages last march after drinking with fellow soldiers, watching a movie about rejeng killings and discussing a friend who had lost a leg. he's accused of carrying out one of the worst wars a trosties over the last ten years and faces murder and six counts of attempted murder. the 39-year-old has not entered a plea, but attorneys say he has post-traumatic stress disorder. prosecutors showed video of bales surrendering taken by surveillance blimps. now let's head to wall

street. >> the markets like certainty, whatever the reaction in the next few days, investors will shift focus to how to avoid the fiscal cliff. automatically traded at the end of year. back to you. >> mandy drury, thanks. a rough landing in texas caught on tape. a student pilot trying to touch down at a local airport clipped the top of an suv driving on a road near the runway. the driver and his passengers suffered only minor injuries. the pilot, meanwhile, was not harmed. the faa is now investigating the incident. all very lucky though. it is 7:21 right now. let's go back over to matt and savannah and al at democracy plaza. hello, mr. roker. >> hey there, hey there. talking about this nor'easter, an hopefully it's moving a little further east so maybe not quite as bad, at least rainwise.

show you what we've got. strong winds developing, bands of waves and coastal flooding as this thing makes its way. it's also going to bring coastal surge with compromised beaches and sand dunes, that could be a problem. we're looking at wind advisories from boston to long island. good morning to you. another day of near record warmth per section, if you want to get on outdoors and rock the vote. 81 in santa theresa and not all that much cooler at the coast today, 82 in santa cruz and 80 degrees in san francisco. as we head through the next few days, temperatures drop like a rock. look at the difference between today and thursday. snow levels falling as low as 3 ,500 feet. just ahead, much more from democracy plaza.

surprising thing her mom did while waiting for the 2000 presidential race, but first, this is "today" on nbc.

it's not just about the white house. some other key races to watch today. >> after your local news.

the time now 7:26. good morning, everybody. i'm jon kelley. yes, it is election day and california voters have major choices to make decisions that will affect the state for years to come. one of the biggest issues on that ballot is prop 30. he has been pushing this one hard. prop 30 would raise the sales tax, as well as income taxes for the highest earners. that money would then go towards prison realignment, health care and for education. and governor brown is expected to cast his vote on prop 30 any minute now and, of course, the long list of other things to select from and then it is a matter of time for just the watching and waiting. nbc bay area is your home for all election results and our live coverage starts at 4:00 this evening and local cut-ins throughout the night. updating you on all the local and state races. our newscast tonight at 11:00

p.m. will have the results of all your national, state and local races and, of course, tomorrow morning on "today in the bay." that is where you'll want to check in for all the election results that were released overnight. i believed i heard christina loren using the word perfection for today. >> hopefully we'll see a record turnout at the polls today. 48 in napa and 57 degrees to start you out in san francisco and 53 in san jose and no fog to report and visibility is just about perfect throughout the board as we head through this afternoon. all works out like this as you head to your polling place. 80 degrees at the coast and 86 degrees inland as we head through tomorrow, temperatures drop off by 10 to 15 degrees on average. we continue that drop off and the rain arrives and snow levels fall to 4,000 feet. let's check on your drive with mike inouye. >> crowded sight headed into the

peninsula. now, over to the peninsula and let's start on the east bay with a map and you see the slowing off the castro valley and southbound 880, as well, passing the san mateo bridge and naturally slow down to fremont. 101 also slow and southbound through san mateo and down into pallo alto and 280 and 85 slows down. back to you. >> mike, thank you very much. back in one half hour with more updates. we'll see you then.

. it is 7:30 now on a tuesday morning, november 6th, 2012. that makes it election day, and as you look down at democracy plaza we urge you to get out and vote. whatever time of the day you can. polls are open in many states already. they will continue to open as the time moves out west, and, again, expecting hopefully good turnouts, though a lot of people in the east worried about the aftermath of hurricane sandy and how that might impact voter turnout. at democracy plaza, i'm matt lauer alongside savannah guthrie and just ahead we go live to four critical swing states that will go a long way towards deciding who will win this presidential race. colorado, and as chuck calls them flova, florida, ohio and

virginia. >> rolls off the tongue. the most influential group of voters today are women. will they turn out in record numbers? what are the issues on their mind? both campaigns have worked hard to woo women. we'll get into that. >> and the other major battle at the polls today, republicans trying to get control of the senate from the democrats. coming up, the high-profile rations that are too close to call as voters begin casting their ballots. >> but we begin this half hour with the all-important battleground states in the presidential race. to get a sense of how important and influential they are and how much more focused these states have gotten, we found an animation from npr and that tells the story. this is what the electoral map looks like, how it shock out in 2008, but here's how it looks if you take the states with the states with the most electoral votes larger. >> that's not the country i grew up knowing. >> and here's what it's really telling. if you resize the states depending on how much money the campaigns spent on this campaign. it looks something like this. i hope ohio, florida, virginia,

colorado jumping more off the page. let's talk more about that starting with nbc's john yang in cincinnati, ohio. john, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, matt. voting under way here in this battleground state, in this battleground county in the battleground state. ohio has picked the winner in every election since 1964. no republican has won the white house without it. already about 1.8 million votes have been cast in early balloting. those ballots will be the first to be counted tonight. it should give us a good idea of how the turnout effort on both sides has been going. matt? >> all right. john yang, i'll take it, and we want to head now to florida and nbc's kerry sanders in orlando along the all-important i-4 corridor, an area expected to determine who wins the state. kerry, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, savannah. polls open here at 7:00 a.m. don't forget there are two time zones in florida. supervisors of election in the state say anyone in line at 7:00 p.m. and who has not yet voted

will still be allowed to cast their vote. so far because of early voting there's been a tremendous turnout already in the state, 4.5 million people have voted in the state. here's the breakdown. 1.9 million registered democrats. 1.7 million registered republicans, but remember, of course, that doesn't mean they necessarily voted the party ticket. one issue that resonates, especially in south florida is the question of israel. jewish voters traditionally are registered as democrats, but rabbis have been asking questions it their congregations about the president's commitment to israel. florida has the second largest jewish population outside of new york. there are 12 million registered voters in florida. both campaigns have spent a record $192 million to try to win their votes. the prize here, 29 electoral votes. savannah? >> kerry sanders, thank you. >> all right. let's go to colorado now. nine electoral votes up for grabs in that state and nbc's kristen dahlgren is in

centennial this morning. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, matt. the candidates have been here dozens of times over the past few months. president obama won colorado by 9% back in 2008, but this could be a very different story. all of the polls within the margin of error. now, most coloradoans have already voted in early voting. we can't tell you the count, but we can tell you the breakdown, that is 37% of voters so far have been republican, about 35% have been democrats, and that leaves some 28% with no party affiliation, so this could come down to those voters and who they choose, and also who the different sides can get out in their core base today. polls open here at 7:00 a.m. mountain time, and they have made contingency plans to keep the election offices staffed late into the night if the count goes late tonight. matt? >> all right. kristen dahlgren in colorado, thank you. >> and last but not least the battleground state of virginia. let's go to nbc's tom costello. good morning to you.

>> reporter: good morning. what was heartening was to see people lined up here at 3:30 in the morning when it was dark, and they were here at 6:00 in the morning when the polls finally opened. we had 600 people or so in line. we can tell you virginia and its 13 electoral votes are critical, and this county is going to be a key county to watch, henrico as well as the northern virginia counties in fairfax, louden and also prince william. i also want to show you how important the state is because yesterday we had last-minute visits again by vice president biden and also by governor romney. in total the candidates have made more than 90 trips here to virginia. this state used to be reliably republican, and then it voted for obama in '08. it has been purple ever since, voting for a republican governor, and right now the polls have a single point spread between president obama and governor romney with obama ahead. how will the state turn out? it may be a nail-biter. guys, back to you. >> a lot of eyes on virginia tonight. tom costello, thank you. >> interesting little tour of the country there.

let's get a check of the weather on election day now from al. >> and we're down here on our prometheus stage and tamron hall is going to be down here, and she's got this touch screen. it's like what if, and can do all kind of neat things and then we're out over here, and here's, of course, prometheus. i can see matt and savannah, the back of their heads over there, so that's a great view as well. let's take a look and show you what we've got going on. as far as election weather is concerned, we do have a system making its way across the upper midwest, northern minnesota, rain and snow. it's going to be awfully chilly. wisconsin a big swing state. let's take a look and show you what we've got. we're liking at whinelander, snow and 35. green bay snow showers, milwaukee a cold rain, 43 degrees and des moines, iowa, 53 and clearing, davport 47 and

some morning showers. that's what's going o 7:37 on election day here in the bay area. temperatures and that sunshine is out in full force. we're talking about perfection later today. astroditionally rearly november we see temperatures in the 50s and 60s at the coast today we're talking about the 80s. 80 degrees in san francisco and 80 in fremont and 86 degrees in livermore. as we head throughout the next couple of days, look at the dopoff down to the upper 50s and then rain on the way late thursday into friday. latest weather. great being here. i want to get up on that thing. i want to get up on that and just kind of come sliding across democracy plaza. how great would that be, savannah? >> yeah do, that. definitely do that, al. we'll check back with you in a moment. >> okay. all right. coming up next, critical senate races across the country to keep an eye on today, but first these messages. ♪

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ohio, with a look at some of the country's key senate races. kelly, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, matt. we're in franklin county where four precincts are casting their ballots here and whether voters give president obama a second term or send mitt romney to the white house either man's fate is tied to power on capitol hill and especially which party will control the senate, and that battle has been fierce. massachusetts is the main event in a party tug-of-war. a staggering $76 million spent. >> good to see you guys, thank you for coming out. >> reporter: republican senator scott brown is widely considered popular and gets credit for working with democrats, but he's at risk. >> it's nice to meet you. >> you have my vote. >> reporter: pressure is on democrat elizabeth warren, a first-time candidate, former obama administration official and harvard law professor to block republicans from taking enough seats to be in charge. >> a republican controlled senate is a senate bad for massachusetts and bad for this

country. >> want to talk about gridlock, imagine when professor warren is down there. that's what people tell me. >> reporter: republicans expect to pick up seats held by retiring democrats in north dakota and nebraska but could lose a seat in maine after olimpia snowe bowed out. >> the fight over the senate is a very big deal, and it has not gone very well over the last few months for the republicans. >> reporter: that's because republicans were counting on red state candidates that turned into long shots. in missouri republican todd akin refused to quit after his comments about rape and pregnancy angered many women and fellow republicans. >> thank you very much. and, you know, i believe we have. we've had a few knocks. it's been turbulent flying, you might say. >> reporter: so once vulnerable missouri democrat claire mccaskill is favored to keep her seat and in indiana republican richard mourdock saw his poll

numbers tumble after saying god intended pregnancies that resulted from rape. former wrestling executive linda mcmahon has spent tens of millions of her own money trying to turn a connecticut seat for republicans. in wisconsin democrat tammy baldwin could become the first openly gay senator, up again former governor tommy thompson, and the most expensive senate race is in virginia, at $82 million. two former governors with democrat tim kaine polling ahead of republican george allen. and there are 33 senate races around the country, including one here in ohio, and republicans would need to pick up three or four seats to get control. democrats are expected to be able to hold on. in the house of representatives democrats would need to pick up 25 seats, so there is less suspense there. republicans are expected to keep control of the house of representatives. matt? >> all right, kelly o'donnell, thank you very much. david gregory is moderator of "meet the press" and steve schmidt is a former senior

adviser to former candidate john mccain's campaign and tavis smiley joins us from pbs and dee dee myers, president clinton's former white house press secretary. good morning. happy election day. show of hands right now. raise your hand if when this matchup became clear months ago that it would be president obama and governor romney, you thought we'd be sitting on election day with a dead heat on your hands. raise your hand if you thought that was the case. >> no? >> you did. >> you really thought it would be this close? >> i think the country is simply too polarized for it not to be. >> dee dee, why do you think we got to the dead heat, why are we sitting here today with this too close to call? >> i think david is right. the country is extremely polarized, and we always knew it would be a close race. first time in a long time we've been sitting here on election day really not knowing what's going to happen. i think both candidates have strengths and both have weaknesses. you have a tough economy. you have a candidate in mitt

romney who didn't define himself early enough and allowed president obama and his team to define him. strengths and weaknesses on both side but on election day i'd rather be arguing the metrics of turnout than the idea of momentum which the romney people are doing, even though we have no idea what's going to happen today. >> just quickly, you two didn't raise your hands. you thought this was going to be a route. >> i think there's two types of elections, change elections and stay the course, and i thought that it would have broken one way or the other before we got to today. >> taffies. >> i thought it would be close but not too close to call. both guys at one point had enthusiasm gaps on their phalanx. the president had an enthusiasm gap on his left flank and mr. romney with enthusiasm gap on the right flank. i knew the race would tighten up but didn't think it would be this close. >> steve, i'm giving you a charge. you're in charge of the transportation operation for the romney campaign. who are you sending cars for this morning? who is the most important group to get out to vote for governor romney today? >> mitt romney needs to close the gap he has with white voters

in ohio, and he needs to make sure that there's not a gender gap of 12, 13 points with women in places like virginia, ohio, new hampshire. >> taffies, you're in charge of the carpool for the obama campaign, who must you pick up and get to the polls. >> i would hate tomorrow morning for the president to wake up and found that he lost the election by the margin of black absence at the polls. when the race is this tight the base has to turn out. the african-americans who do go to vote, will vote for him. will that turnout be what it was off the charts four years ago. >> to add to that, it's not just african-americans, it's younger voters and latinos. the president has said if i get a second term, it will likely be because republicans didn't pay enough attention to latinos. mitt romney has said if they don't improve standing among latinos we are doomed, his words, and the margins are huge right now for obama's advantage over romney among latinos. >> dee dee, talk to me about the

role women will play in deciding this race. >> right. most undecided voters at this point are women, and women are breaking strongly for the president as they traditionally have. more importantly, 10 million more women will vote than men today so that is where the president's margin is. i would look at single women in particular. they tend to be more undecided and tend to break heavily for president obama, and i think that's where this race in many ways will be decided. >> steve, oftentimes the day after an elects pundits sit around and the losing party they look at and say they have to start from scratch and rethink everything. which party stands to suffer the most long-term damage if they lose today. >> well, if the republicans lose, there's going to be a civil war that breaks out in the republican party. think about this. the last republican candidate who got over 60% of the white vote, george herbert walker bush, over 400 electoral votes. mitt romney is going to get 60% of the white vote, that same margin. he's either going to win narrowly or lose the election. the country has changed fundamentally.

we were at over 40% of the hispanic vote with george w. bush in 2004, and we're not able to get to 30% in this election and that's startling. >> the gop is toast in the most multi-cultural, multiracial and multi-ethnic america. they may win tomorrow but not long term. >> i started it with a show of hands. raise your hand if you think we will know who wins this race by the time we go to bed tonight, and when i say go to bed, i don't mean the time you go to bed, 10:00, tonight when americans go to bed tonight, will we know who wins this race. if so, raise your hand. >> i don't think so. >> dee dee, you said yes. >> i think it all comes down to virginia. if the president wins virginia it's pretty much all over. there's no realistic path for romney without virginia. >> all right. as i mentioned, you guys will be going to bed at about 10:00 tomorrow morning. good luck. >> all right. >> thank you. >> going to be a big day. david gregory, steve schmidt, tavis smiley and dee dee myers.

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good morning, everybody. i'm jon kelley. new this morning a transformer fire knocked out power to 7,000 people in fremont. close look at your screen for some of those intersections affected by that outage. all are located near the scene of that fire, which broke out at about 7:00 on eaton court. fremont police putting extra police on the scene. it is unclear how long the power will be out but we'll keep you posted. let's check in for that morning commute. >> a large shopping center there, safeway is the key store. keep that in mind if you're heading 2680. you can see the major intersections at stevenson and foothill and auto mall is actually clear, good connector between the two parkways and slowing south from there. lookt a this, an accident north out of that area, causing some

slowing and countercommute typically clear in that direction. southbound side really jammed up through hayward, union city and past that accident into fremont. other side of the bay with slow drives rbs as well. bay bridge crossing the bay congested off the east shore. look at that great sunshine, though, christinchristina. >> 80 degrees at the coast and 80 degrees bayside and city by city it works out like this. 82 in fairfield and 80 in fremont and 80 degrees, yet again in san francisco expecting to crush temperature records for the day. potentially we could break some records, all-time records for the month of november here across the bay area. get into your wednesday and temperatures drop like a rock and 50s return thursday and friday. jon, it will get colder out here. >> we are ready, christina. thank you for the update. tune in to nbc bay area all day long for all your election updates. we'll be on the air starting at 3:00 this afternoon and beyond. we'll see you then. this is hayden.

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8:00 now on this tuesday morning, the 6th of november, 2012. election day across the country. got a lot of nice folks on the plaza this morning. we hope you get out there and vote. if you're in the northeast, bundle up when you do. just 34 degrees now here on deplaza. good morning, everyone. i'm savannah guthrie alongside matt lauer. just ahead, the group that could sway this election, women, particularly unmarried women. both president obama and governor romney spent a lot of time courting their votes, so who made the stronger case with that influential voting bloc? we'll get into that. >> then a woman who knows a thing or two about very close presidential campaigns. we're going to talk to jenna bush hager about her family's campaign night experiences, and remember while a lot of us look

at this as politics the candidates and their families look at this as personal. it impacts their lives dramatically. we'll talk to jenna about that. >> nice to get a perspective. from big bird to bayonets, the moment that caught fire online during this campaign season. >> but first a check of this morning's top stories with natalie morales over at the news desk. good morning. >> good morning, everyone. it is decision day as voters nationwide cast their presidential ballots. president obama wiped away a tear at his final campaign event in des moines iowa appearing at the rally with first lady michelle obama and rocker bruce springsteen. republican challenger mitt romney is keeping his campaign in full swing today as he heads to ohio and pennsylvania to make his final pitch. meantime in the first town to vote on election day, an unprecedented tie. the residents of dixville notch, new hampshire cast five votes each for president obama and mitt romney, and you can catch all of your nbc election night coverage live from democracy plaza tonight at 7:00 p.m. eastern time, 4:00 p.m. pacific.

a new storm threatening for tomorrow could increase the misery of east coast residents still recovering from hurricane sandy. about 1 million homes and businesses remained without power overnight as falling temperatures in the area reached the freezing mark. there is a potential breakthrough in using stem cells to help survivors of heart attacks. in a study of 30 patients in miami and baltimore, researchers said stem cells donated by strangers proved as safe and effective as the patient's own cells this. suggests that stem cells might be banked for off-the-shelf use after heart attacks similar to the way blood is now stored. the american arm of suzuki has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and is leaving the car business. the california-based company says it will eventually focus on selling suzuki motorcycles and boat engines. the japan-based arm of the company will not be impacted by the american group's restructuring. for a look at what's trending, our quick roundup what have has you talking online.

actor and chanel pitch man brad pitt is turning his talents to furniture, pieces he co-designed including a bed and a cossey chair will debut this month in new york. pitt traces his knack for design to his love of architecture which he explored in college so he could apparently get out of french class. this vintage video of tom hanks shows the oscar winner prepping for his role as a stand-up comic in the 1988 film "punchline." hanks took the stage at the come instrip to rip at the time what was sylvester stallone's new arm wrestling movie over the top. >> arm wrestling competition. do you think stallone wins the competition by any chance? is this the most exciting thing to make a movie about, arm wrestling? >> for the record, neither film set the box office on fire. and late night host jimmy fallon let his dog derry take a

shot last night at predicting the outcome of today's election. >> she may not be voting for the same person that i am, by the way. in my family everybody gets their say, every vote counts except for derry. as of 2012, dogs are not allowed to vote. >> go. >> mitt romney. >> you must have not heard the story about romney tying his dog to the roof, but that's left. >> what a cute dog. jimmy jokes that he'll have the dog back for the recount. i guess it's a girl. let's go back out to al with a check of the weather. hey, al. >> all right. let's see what we've got for you. first of all, starting out we're talking about down in the southeast, florida. florida, florida, florida. may see some heavier showers and thunderstorms forecast. it is going to be a little on wet side. thunderstorms, tampa, 76 an neighborles 76 degrees. 27 in tampa with thunderstorms as well and even up to the

north, and as we head on up into the carolinas and virginia, we've got basically some afternoon showers in wilmington. otherwise looking pretty good throughout much of virginia. and as we look and see what's going on as far as that nor'easter is concerned, can you see it's going to be making its way up the coast. rain in the pacific northwest and rain and snow showers up to the upper mississippi river valley. sunny and hot with temperatures in the mid to upper 80s in southern california. mid to lower 90s through southern new mexico and on into parts of arizona. that's what's g 8:05 on an election tuesday. temperatures will be comforta e comfortable. lots of sunshine for today. you will notice glassy on the bay as winds are starting to relax. the winds kept us so warm yesterday. we're looking at a repeat performance. 86 in livermore. 81 in redwood city.

things change on thursday. we get our first shower late thursday and friday and it will get cold around here. >> and that's your latest weather. matt? >> all right, al, thank you very much. coming up next, the power of the woman's vote in 2012. will they decide who wins tonight? and jenna bush hager tells us about something unusual that her mother, former first lady laura bush did on election night 2000. hmm. right after this. if you are one of the millions of men who have used androgel 1%, there's big news. presenting androgel 1.62%. both are used to treat men with low testosterone. androgel 1.62% is from the makers of the number one prescribed testosterone replacement therapy. it raises your testosterone levels, and... is concentrated, so you could use less gel. and with androgel 1.62%, you can save on your monthly prescription. [ male announcer ] dosing and application sites between these products differ. women and children should avoid contact with application sites.

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that's been wrapped in a flaky crust stuffed with a gooey center toasted up all golden brown then given a delicious design? a toaster strudel. pillsbury toaster strudel. so delicious...so fun. back now at 8:10 with more of "today on the trail." women voters could hold the key to deciding today's presidential race so what is driving them to the polls. the co-hosts of msnbc's "the cycle" joins us now. >> good morning, savannah. >> looking far to you battling

it out in a few seconds. let's talk about the women's vote generally. seen both campaigns bend over backwards to woot women vote, whether it's in their ads, their speeches, we can all remember an romney saying i love you women at the republican convention. why is it a potentially decisive bloc of voters. >> typically because men outnumber the men at the polls. just in terms of the math it makes sense to go after women and there's a sense that women are up for grabs. they have been dissatisfied and unhappy with the progress on the economy and on the other hand upset with big extremism on the republican social issues. there's a battle there, and both sides are trying to get their message across. >> break it down further, s.e., unmarried women who are potentially the swing voters in this election. what does governor romney need to do to close the gap with them? >> too late, election day. actually, i mean, as much as i agree that women are a valuable part of the electorate i don't think either side has really done a good job of courting women. i think on the left democrats

have reduced women to reproductive rights and on the right i don't think romney has explained in great detail what his economic policies are and neither have began out of their way to address the issue which most women care about which is tax reform. i'm a small business owner. i'm a woman. i may have a family one day. would i love the tax system to be a little bit more simple, and neither candidate really talked about what they would do in terms of -- outside of expanding the bush tax cuts or not. >> how do you explain the fact that governor romney has made up some ground with women in our most recent polling? >> well, you know, i think when the gap was at the widest it was because actually democrats were talking a lot about things like the lilly ledbetter fair pay act. they were talking about women's health issues which are important to a lot of women, and that's not -- that's not reducing them down just to reproductive rights, but that is an important issue that women are concerned about. during the debates, romney went above and beyond to portray himself as reasonable, as moderate, as someone what you

shouldn't be scared of, who is not extreme. there wasn't a lot of talk about lilly ledbetter and the fair pay act and not a lot of talk about things like defunding planned parenthood, personhood amendments which are seen as very extreme so because he made that rhetorical shift to the center, i think women started to feel a bit more comfortable. >> s.e., you say they haven't really addressed women's issues and it's not all about reproductive rights, not the only women's issue but do you think some of the inpolitic remarks coming out of republican senate candidates have hurt the republican cause and potentially mitt romney in. >> absolutely. they were crazy statements, and democrats were very good at spinning them to make them look like representative of the party and representative of the presidential candidate, and they are not, of course, but then that put mitt romney and other republicans into damage control mode. they suddenly had to speak for todd akin and mourdock and explain them away and provide some nuance to their -- to their statements. >> well, in actuality, while

todd akin and his bizarre comments are not representative of the republican mainstream, the position on abortion, no abortion, no exceptions, even in the case of rain and incest, that is the republican party platform, and paul ryan in fact co-sponsored legislation with todd akin to redefine rape so to say it's totally -- >> not mitt romney's platform so it put mitt romney in a position to say that's not what i believe and now i have to explain for this guy and my party and tell you what i would do differently. it was a heavy lift for him. >> crystal and s.e.cupp who just prove the point just because you agree you don't agree politically. >> thank you very much. >> once again, yocoming up, whas it like during a close election

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daughter and this time she hit the trail as a reporter. >> not the real campaign trail. the non-stop campaigning has come to an end and we decided to how all things american politics trickled down to what's not in the spotlight. we went to the future politicians to get the answers. >> hold on a second. >> mr. president, i'm still speaking. >> reporter: in this election of contentious debates. >> you're wrong, mr. president. >> no, i'm not. >> reporter: stump speeches. >> we'll finish what we started. >> we're taking back this country. >> reporter: and constant campaigning we decided to go straight to the source, the political hot bed of, well, middle school. eighth graders maliki and tyler holder this fall hitting the trail. >> it was a lot of pressure because everyone wanted to have that position, so it was like we were fighting for it. >> reporter: and after a grueling campaign these two newly elected officials worked to deliver the changes they promised. good school lunches.

>> pro. >> reporter: school trips. >> pro. >> reporter: a lot of homework. >> against. >> yeah, against. >> reporter: school dances? >> pro. >> i am honored and privileged to address you today. >> reporter: just like other politicians. >> to be the best should be our ambition. >> reporter: this duo set the bar high. >> academically and the way the school looks and maybe more events for little kids, maybe more trips. >> i like pbs, i love big bird. >> reporter: with big bird taking a surprise guest starring role in this year's presidential election, we headed to the land of the true "sesame street" vote police zimmer's first grade class at watson elementary. ♪ election day is coming and we know all about it ♪ ♪ don't forget to cast your vote ♪ ♪ we want to hear your voice

>> reporter: a hot button issue. >> you get to fill out your ballots. >> reporter: ten extra minutes of recess versus one night of no homework. >> it was a nail baiter and then pure elation. >> no homework. >> the celebration and some disappointment when the majority ruled. no homework. >> reporter: next week we traveled to the city of the founding fathers, the homeland of our constitution where students resorted to some sweet incentives to persuade kids to vote. >> it's just us trying to outdo each other, like if you bring in cupcakes today i'm going to bring in like bigger cup takes tomorrow. >> reporter: like leaders before them, these students take their roles seriously. >> i want to be that guy that you just walk up to in the hallway and i say i need help. sure, man. let meet later, i'll talk to the teachers or something. >> reporter: the academy at

columbo high school set up a mock election. >> the idea of taking something that politics is for adults, for people who are older and trying to change that idea. they are for everybody. >> i have a choice and i get to tell people who i want to vote for. >> reporter: when you turn 18, do you plan on voteing? >> yes. >> i tell my students that as they get older and they don't vote that when i'm a very old man and i pass on, that i will come back and haunt them. >> reporter: just hours after their own inauguration, the new leaders shed light on what they have learned from those who came before them. >> martin luther king, obama, people like that maybe can give you an idea that you can run. don't quit and just strive for your goals. >> reporter: these kids spoke about the importance of voting and their excitement of turning 18. and since the youth vote the least represented group, it's really important that schools start teaching this habit and this right early. >> yeah. i'm happy to see that happening. mind giving us a little insight.

we're going to watch this election as journalists and at citizens and as interested parties. you've watched several as a daughter and a granddaughter. what's the tension like on election night when you're part of the family? >> it's hard. you know, i'm glad to be watching it as a citizen, i have to say, you know, because one thing i think we don't talk about enough in this country is politicians as humans, as fathers, as husbands, and both of the men tonight, you know, they are dads, and they are husbands and so for me watching my dad, you know, go through that stress, it's hard for the kids. >> let me go back even earlier. when your grandfather lost his bid for re-election were you in fourth grade. >> yeah. >> do you remember the disappointment? >> we were in houston and remember watching him and he's my gampy and i remember watching him work so hard, that's what he wanted. i remember crying. i was a fourth grader.

>> let's go forward to 2000, election to end all elections. how old? >> i was 18. >> that turned into not election night but election month basically. >> 36 days. >> going to the supreme court. how much tension was it? >> really hard and particularly hard for my mom because, you know, she -- we were 18 so we were off at college and kind of could go back to our routine of christmas break and then school, but it was hard for my mom to watch my dad, you know, go through this really stressful time. >> tried to keep normal in her life. there's this picture of her in 2000 in the governor's mansion in austin, texas doing dishes. >> cleaning. >> who can do dishes? >> my mom is like you where she has a little bit of an ocd issue. >> i knew i liked your mom. >> has a little bit of an ocd issue, when she'ssed she cleans. >> when your dad was running for re-election in 2004, was there any -- also a tense night. was there any part of you that wanted it to go the other way so that you could have your life back completely? >> no, you know.

i mean, i think maybe when we were 18 there might have been some of that selfishness when they told us he was running for president. barbara and i were shocked because we were college kids and we were most important, our freedom, but in 2004 we wanted him to be president. we'd witnessed september 11 as college students, and we wanted him to keep us safe, and, you know, we want what's best for your parents because they want what's best for you. both in 2000 and 2004, we went to bed. our whole family not knowing that he had been elected so i just hope we go to bed with a winner, for all the families' sake. >> nice of you to share this. >> sure. >> it's not something you do very often. you don't walk around the office and say let me tell you about my time in the white house. >> no, not much. >> thanks, jenna, i appreciate it. >> just ahead, more from here on democracy plaza on election day 2012 after your local news.

good tuesday morning to you. 8:26. i'm laura garcia-cannon. the election under way in the bay area. the polls will be open until 8:00. moments ago, governor jerry brown cast his vote in oakland. proposition 30 increases taxes for high earners for seven years and increases the sales tax for four years. money raised would fund public safety and school realignment. stay with nbc bay area all day for special coverage. i want to check the morning commute with mike. we have some slow traffic showing up, laura. here is the san mateo bridge. on the hayward side, it is slow here. smooth at the toll plaza. it is not until the mid section

that it is tough on the high-rise. let's show you on the maps. it is jammed here southbound out of brisbane through burlingame and san mateo. the north side has been slow for a time. jammed on 92 because of that. jammed on the other side of 92 south. 880 all wait to fremont. back to you. we better go brew mike some tea. another update in half an hour.

it's 8:30 now on a tuesday morning. it's november 6th, 2012. it's election day, and people are checking out democracy plaza here at rockefeller center. this, of course, is our election night home. and by the way, a week from today this place will be transformed into one direction plaza when the hottest boy band on the planet puts on a live concert for us. we are expecting huge crowds. the great part of this job. one day we're covering a president for election and a week later boy bands on the plaza. bring your best sign. you'll have a chance to win concert tickets from the band.

i'm matt lauer along with savannah guthrie and natalie morales from our perch here in democracy plaza. >> good morning again, everybody. we'll have the lighter side of this sometimes tense presidential race. we'll talk about moments on the event that sparked viral videos and online trends and sometimes new vocabulary words. >> and on switching gears here, a very revealing interview with fashion icon donna karan, what she's doing to honor her late husband, the man she calls her inspiration. >> but first let's go over to al in another part of democracy plaza with a check of the weather. >> and welcome here to democracy plaza. what democracy can't happen unless you have great caricatures and shelly is

terrific. you're doing kind of a high-tech stuff. instead of on paper and using share cole, you're doing this electronically. >> yes. we're using a new windows 8 app called fresh paint and we're drawing with that to create caricatures for all these amazing citizens who have come out to vote on our election day. >> very cool. you did one of me there. actually kind of a mashup of me and barack obama there. >> i think someone said that earlier, yeah. >> all right. very cool. anybody else you've been working on. >> what we'll do today is add a little facial here to you because you're looking a little -- you're looking a little cold. >> you're going to give me a stache for movember. >> can even give you hair if you like. >> wow, that would be great. i would love that. >> all right. >> i'll let you work on that. that

8:33. i'm meteorologist christina loren. taking a live look in oakland this morning. beautiful conditions over the coliseum. not a cloud to be found in the sky. temperatures will soar as a result into the 80s. 86 in livermore. 80 in san francisco. 80 in oak town. 82 degrees here in san jose. temperatures drop like a rock into wednesday. we end up in the mid-70s. the 50s and rain thursday and friday. and that's your latest weather. come on down. shelly and a number of other folks doing a -- oh, look at that. that's not a lot of hair there. kind of charlie brownish, all right. thanks so much. back to you guys. oh, willard. willard, willard. >> i like birthday cake and birthday ice cream and birthday buddies, and we've got birthday buddies right here on the smuckers hour.

here is lee nelson from youngstown, ohio. 100 years old today. always greets people with a big smile and a big hug. i mean, he can hug a bear. ruth reeve from carmel, indiana. 109 years old today. secret to longevity is her faith and her friends. how about that. good old vincent rees, salt lake city, utah. i met my sweetie in salt lake city. 100 years old today. has traveled all over the world just to fish, the great salt lake. i wonder if it has any fish in it or not, i don't know. here is one of my favorite names in all the birthday lists, wally schweigh a u.s. er from nobleboro, maine, 100 years old today. very talented artist. had an art show last month at 100. now, see, you can do it yourself. albert jackson, isn't that a good name, albert jackson from

atmore, alabama, 109 years old today. loves praising the good lord and drinking dr. pepper. sometimes at the same time. gertrude, i love you gertrude linn from hermitage, pennsylvania. 103 years old, and she enjoys watching old tv shows and gardening. how about that. i like old tv shows. i was on old tv shows. now back to new york and a new tv show. >> all right, willard, thank you. coming up next from big bird to clint eastwood's chair, the campaign moments that had us all talking, but first, this is "today" on nbc. ♪ ♪ we were skipping stones ♪ and letting go ♪ over the river and down the road ♪ [ female announcer ] at nature valley, we know nature comes together in amazing ways. that's why we bring together natural ingredients, like dark chocolate with toasted oats, or sweet golden honey. perfect combinations of nature's delicious ingredients, from nature valley.

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and we're bac and we're back now at 8:37 with more on this election day 2012. a few months ago you probably didn't give too much thought to things like big bird, binders

full of women and bayonets. >> and they have become words and images that have sparked endless conversations online, not to mention many fake twitter accounts on the internet. willie geist is here with his top five meme. >> we all understand what a meme is now, right? >> something that takes on a life of its own. you'll see here when we start. number five, the top meme of 2012. binders full of women. both candidates were asked to do what they would generate gender equality in the workplace. this is mitt romney's response describing his time as governor of massachusetts. >> i went to a number of women's groups and said can you help us find folks, and they brought us a whole binders full of women. >> okay. so this took on a life of its own almost immediately. a twitter account @romney'sbinder and pictures started coming out. trapper keeper, i know you had a trapper keeper in high school. matt, did you have one of these? >> no, my generation. >> mine was a-team, what was yours? >> kitty cat.

>> and right into the photographs. a dirty dancing picture that caught fire online. no one puts baby in a binder from swayze and the famous hillary clinton text blog put up romney still uses binders, lol. >> you're right this. happened like in minutes. >> instantly after that. >> that's the beauty of twitter, well, if you think it's the beauty. >> the beauty and the pain. >> also big halloween costume this year, women dressed in binders. all right. number four, horses and bayonets, at the last presidential debate. president obama had a line at ready when mitt romney questioned the wisdom of having fewer ships in the navy. >> you mentioned the navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. well, governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets. >> they got 105,000 tweets per minute about horses and bayonets on the night of that debate. >> you knew it was going to happen. >> knew it was coming, a parody blog went up almost immediately. some of the pictures we saw, obama riding a unicorn.

unicorns are just horses with bayonets. a picture of romney's military was another one. also romney's foreign policy. now some fact-checking revealed later on that the united states marine corps has 175,000 bayonets. >> they still do. >> still exist. >> moving on to number 3, the little girl who spoke and wept for a nation, 4-year-old abigail evans finally got sick and tired of hearing about this campaign. >> i'm tired -- i'm tired of bronco bama and mitt romney. >> that's why you're crying? >> oh. it will be over soon, abby, the election will be over soon, okay. >> okay. >> and a new name was coined bronco bama. >> not on the ballot. >> she lives in a swing state, right? >> yes. >> 12 million views on youtube at last check. abigail evans, her mother posted

that. she had been listening to npr on the way to the grocery store and that's what prompted the tears. >> that's hilarious. >> so npr put out an apology. >> as they should have. >> on behalf of npr we apologize to abigail and all the others who probably feel like her. we must confess the campaign's gone on too long for her, too. >> agreement on that question. >> yes. >> now let's get to this. a tough choice between one and two. big bird, believe it or not, came up just short, going back to that first presidential debate. governor romney broke some bad news to the big yellow pbs icon when the candidate spelled out his spending cuts. >> i'm going to stop the subsidy to pbs. i'm going to stop other things. i like pbs. i love big bird. >> big twitter account, of course, @firebigbird and lots of photographs online. we have big bird sitting on the stood stoop there on sesame street after mitt romney fired him. we've got big bird depression

area unemployment line. and big bird responded via the "sesame street" page saying my bedtime is usually 7:45. i was tired yesterday and fell asleep at 7:00. did i miss anything last night? >> prompted a whole campaign from the obama side as well. >> it became a talking point. >> and the craziest think of all sexy big bird halloween costumes. >> i don't think that's possible. >> that's an oxymoron. >> time for number one. you guys ready? >> who chose these, by the way? >> an esteemed panel of experts. by that i mean me. number one meme of the 2012 campaign, it has to be eastwooding. clint eastwood created near internet hysteria when he read the riot act to an empty chair at the republican national convention in august. this was all over the place. basically captivated the internet. eastwooding became the new tebowing. people posting photographs online of them angrily pointing at chairs, a man -- a dog pointing at a chair and then we had perhaps capping all of this, pee-wee herman talking to chair-y, the famous chair from "pee-wee's playhouse, and the

final word came from the president saying this seat's taken. >> one of the more interesting moments from our convention that you can remember in the last election cycles? >> andrea mitchell called it afterwards exceedingly strange. >> but the romney campaign used clint eastwood in an ad in a campaign so they are sticking by their man. >> eastwood versus big bird, we'll see who wins. >> thank you very much. still ahead, more election fun. how to throw the ultimate result party tonight. but donna karen opens up about her new project. but first, this is "today" on nbc.

>> donna karan conjures up

visions of high fashion but there's more to the woman behind the famous label. she has a remarkable story of love and loss and now a mission to carry on the legacy of her soul mate, the man who helped build her brand. here's nbc's kristen dahlgren. >> reporter: she is a force in american fashion. the name on a million labels. >> hello, brooklyn! >> reporter: best friends to barbra, she's recently dressed the icon for her return to brooklyn concert but donna karan's latest project is by far her most personal. >> it's taken me a while to put this all together. i don't want to cry, that's crazy. >> reporter: an art exhibit and companion book, the works of her late husband stephen weiss, most never seen outside their inner circle. just a few in the public really knew the man behind the design superstar. >> where would donna karan be without him? >> wouldn't.

wouldn't. stephen was my partner in business. but you're an artist, honey. what do you know about the fashion industry, but stephen knew everything. >> theirs is a love story. >> the minute i met stephen i knew he was it. you know, i met him when i was 18 years old. >> reporter: it was ten years later they would finally reconnect, join their lives, their families and together build one of the world's biggest labels, revolutionizing the way we dress, bringing easy uptown chic to women everywhere, as the label took off with done that karan and dkny she was called the queen of seventh avenue but never alone, stephen was at her side from every decision to launching a men's line to creating a fragrance. >> we cannot design clothes, hem lines go up and down but a fragrance will last forever. >> reporter: stephens personally designed the perfume bottle but the pony-tailed artist handled the business side taking the company public in a massive

deal. >> i love these pieces personally because they remind me the most of stephen. >> reporter: his creativity is clear in his art and somewhat quirky, he brought out the unexpected in the high-powered fashion mogul. >> every night we listened to obi-wan kenobi. >> reporter: he worked in an endless variety of medium, clay, paint, sculpture. >> shall i make a pair for the runway. >> reporter: look at that. >> this would definitely be donna karan. >> reporter: but the couple esteemed to have it all soon found out that stephen had lung cancer, and everything changed. he died in 2001, never living to see his larger than life series completed and leaving donna with a huge request. >> right before he passed away, he said, donna, whatever you do, take care of the nurses so i have a mission that i'm on. >> reporter: the request inspired karan's urban zen initiative bringing help to

hospitals and helping after the haitian earthquake but in putting together the art exhibit she found out how much she also inspired him when a love note never sent fell out of one of his sketch books. >> donna, thank you for finding me. when shy ship was disabled on this planet. you became my universe. >> reporter: a love story cut short but far from finished. >> i believe i am carrying out his legacy. i believe stephen is here every single day. i am connected with him more now than i've ever been. >> reporter: for "today," kristen dahlgren, nbc news, new york. >> the exhibit is called connecting the dots. it's open until december 22nd here in new york city. coming up next, everything you need to throw an election night party tonight, but first this is "today" on nbc. woman: oh! tully's. how do you always have my favorite coffee? well, inside the brewer, there's a giant staircase.

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♪ ...and in the tiniest details. ♪ and sometimes both. nature valley granola thins pack the big taste of granola and dark chocolate into one perfect square, under 100 calories. nature valley granola thins. nature at its most delicious. this morning on requested today's kitchen" an election party plan. whether you lean to the left or the right tonight is the perfect time for a patriotic get-together. we have the director of "martha stewart living." good morning to you. >> good morning. we have something for both sides of the aisle. great bipartisan dip because everyone loves it, can i just say one thing. if your neighbors are in need

invite them over, especially in this tri-state area. >> absolutely. >> spinach artichoke dip. we have cream cheese in here, some artichokes which are canned and drained. >> canned artichokes. >> parmesan cheese, a little lighter weight than your big stick goopy dip. >> can you use low-fat cream cheese. >> if you want and lemon juice, garlic and cayenne. can you chop this if you don't have a food processor. >> that's about a glove of garlic. >> if this works we'll be really lucky. >> come on. >> and we want to get this really nice and completely smooth, all right? >> and how long would you do that? >> just until you look in and it's smooth and that's completely smooth. then we add the rest of the artichokes. we add some spinach, those are the two stars of this recipe, the spinach and the artichoke. >> spinach you cooked. >> either cook it and drain it or you can defrost it from the freezer. >> got it.

>> and then we have some scallions and that's it. completely it. what we do with this one is we just pulse it so we have chunks so it's nice. >> i think that answered my question. wondering why you saved some of the artichokes. >> because you want texture in here. >> and this is what you have ander is of it with crudite. >> i notice you have the red and blue, a nice touch. >> here we are in the two places that our candidates hail from. we have our chicago dogs, and to make a chicago dog it's -- they are so serious in that windy city about their dogs. you've got the pickle. you've got tomato. you've got some -- a little bit of onion and you need to have this relish, there's the thing. >> did you make that neon relish. >> you can buy it or you can make it, and then oh, darn. i don't have the squeeze bott. you've got to zigzag the mustard. >> you do. >> this is so not chicago. >> how am i going to do it? >> listen, i'm doing it. i want to do them proud and a little bit of celery salt and

you wonder why celery salt? >> i have no idea. that's the way they do it. >> that's the chicago. >> you toast the bun. >> with a little bit of poppy seed on it, too. >> okay. >> oh, i forgot the sport pepper. little peperoncini on top. >> you partial to any particular hot dogs or any will do in. >> the red hots is what you did and i boiled these with beef because i couldn't get my hands on red hot dogs. >> on the other side we have new england clam chowder. it's super easy, only a few ingredients. make a big batch and have your neighbors over ander is of it with a little garlic bread and to book end our bipartisan dip i felt like you could have some hard apple cider. apple is as american as apple cider and then just have regular ciders. this is hard with punch to it and regular cider for the kid. >> chowder is great for a cold

tonight, night. recipes on the website. >> super easy. chowder is so easy, really easy. new england clam choweder. >> thank you so much. >> thanks, savannah. >> find all the recipes on today.com. >> yes, can you. >> we'll be back with more of "today" right after this. >> are you going to try one? >> of course i am.

good tuesday morning. 8:56. i'm laura garcia-cannon. it is election day. polls are open across the bay area. voters will be able to cast their votes between now and 8:00 p.m. don't put it off. the investigative unit keeping an eye out for polling problems. call our tip line at 888-996-tips or e-mail us at

theunit@nbcbayarea.com. we hope to see a record turn out at the polls. 80 degrees at the coast and 80 bay side. we continue into the workweek and we have a major cooldown ahead. by the weekend, staying cool. [ laughter ] [ girl ] wow. you guys have it easy. i wish i had u-verse when i was your age. in my day, we didn't have these fancy wireless receivers. blah, blah, blah. if i had a sleepover, i couldn't just move the tv into the playroom. no, we had to watch movies in the den because that's where the tv outlet was. and if dad was snoring on the couch, we muscled through it. is she for real? your generation has it made. [ male announcer ] the wireless receiver. only from at&t u-verse. get a free wireless receiver with a qualifying u-verse plan. rethink possible.

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we're back now with more "today" on tuesday morning. tuesday, november 6th, 2012. election day 2012. if you come from the sky and take a look at the skating rink, what is rock efeller plaza, it' democracy plaza. i'm matt lauer along with savannah guthrie. nice people stopping by on a chilly november morning here in new york city. we're happy they joined us. a lot of people waking up this morning to go out to the polls early. the polling place in cincinnati, ohio. that could be the swing state of all swing states. people already at it voting

there this morning. and down in florida, another very key battleground state. we've got voting going on there as well. >> a lot of wet weather down there. >> both candidates voted this morning. we know president obama cast his vote earlier in chicago a couple of weeks ago. also ahead, we've done the real political analysis. now we'll do fun political analysis. unscientific polls in our take three just ahead. we'll take a look back at one of the most iconic images, the gesh ber baby. we'll meet the original gerber baby and reveal the new one. >> that's cool. >> then we've got the latest trends in beauty. everything you need to know from the hottest creams to help you look younger to teeth brighteners. we've got them all covered for you. the newest of the new. lots to get to. let's go inside. natalie is standing by at the news desk with all the headlines. >> good morning, everyone. it is decision day as voters nationwide cast their

presidential ballots. peter alexander is in bellmont, massachusetts. >> reporter: good morning. mitt romney alongside of ann voted in belmont outside of boston. tomorrow morning, think of this, governor romney is either going to wake up as president elect or he's going to return to his life as a private citizen. inside governor romney was asked by a reporter, who did you vote for? he said, i think you know. today he actually heads off to do a little bit more campaigning. he'll make stops trying to motivate supporters in ohio and pennsylvania before ending his night here at the romney campaign hears at the convention center. the president, who voted last week, has his plan in chicago today. he'll do interviews. an effort to get out his message to as many of those key battle grounds as possible. a tradition is he plays baseb l basketball with friends. the romney people, like the obama camp, are both confident

they'll come out victorious. >> thank you, peter. a reminder that you can catchall of our nbc election night coverage live from democracy plaza tonight at 7:00 p.m. eastern time, 4:00 p.m. pacific. more than 1 million homes and businesses are still in the dark today as new york and new jersey struggle to recover after super storm sandy. this is dropping temperatures and a new storm bear down on a region. a nor'easter set to slam the area on wednesday. meantime, state officials are working to ease the voting process for displaced people allowing voters in emergency zones to vote at any polling station know can access. violence in the middle east this morning. a car bomb exploded north of baghdad killing 27 people and wounding dozens of others. meantime, this morning in syria gunmen assassinated the brother of the parliament speaker in da mass skas. this as a government shutters the offices of hamas breaking with the militant group it once backed against israel.

official with american airlines and u.s. airways are discussing the benefits of a possible merger. both airlines announced they had signed a nondisclosure agreement and would exchange confidential information while they evaluate a potential combination. american's parent company filed for bankruptcy protection nearly one year ago. "x factor" judge britney spears is becoming a woman of letters. the pop star is currently in talks with a publisher to write her first solo novel. the hollywood novelist said it will incorporate parts of her life. she has one fiction and one nonfiction book co written with her hour. it is 4 minutes after 10:00. al, a check on the weather. >> that's right. outside comes incompetent side. beautiful thing. let's see what we've got for you weather wise. as natalie mentioned, we have a

nor'easter. along the coast, bans of waves spreading north. we have a storm surge we're expecting. ocean city, maryland, all the way up to new haven, connecticut, two to four for feet wednesday afternoon on into mid night. we're looking at windy weather, coastal winds with 50 to 60-mile-per-hour gusts. it will slow down the work on power lines. snow to talk about. because this thing may move a little further to the east it's going to drag in colder air. we're talking about snow still too early to tell how much from salisbury, maryland, all polar opposite here on the west coast. good morning. i'm meteorologist christina loren. old glory blowing in the breeze. winds coming from the north down sloping offshore breeze. 81 in redwood city.

80 degrees in san francisco. getting out there to rock the vote should be easy weather wise. tomorrow, we drop like a rock and 70s return. >> all right. now to today's "take 3" as we share our take on top stories catching our attention. joining us is msnbc's alex wagner. >> what are you going to be doing? >> ordering pizza, ordering room service. >> putting on your pjs. >> i'll be calling the senate races. >> cool. >> we've seen so many polls this election season. how about we look at unscientific polls. the first is the redskins role. i know people who believe in this. in 17 of the past 18 races a win for the washington redskins meant a win for the incumbent president or party. and in fact the -- the result of

the redskins last home game before the election has a near perfect record. so here's what happened. the redskins lost on sunday, so if you believe the redskins rule, mitt romney will be the next president. >> there is an exception to the rule. 17 out of 18. the one time that the incumbent didn't win was president herbert walker bush. >> can't the redskins just be allowed to just win games? doesn't rg3 have enough pressure on his shoulders? >> i detect a bias towards the redskins. >> you know, a child of washington, d.c., and i am a skins fan. >> okay. >> sorry they lost. >> how about the cookie poll. i like this one. >> this i feel like might have vg to it. the bakery has count the votes based on cookie sale n.2008 the obama cookie got 68% of the cookie sale and 68% of the electoral vote. well, the cookie poll this year currently has obama beating romney 14,317 cook toys 12,690

cookies. >> you know why his was more popular? >> because with the ears you get extra cookie. >> i mean, savannah, what kind of cookies are these, too, do we know? is it oatmeal rasin in. >> probably sugar cookies. >> to be truly fair it should be the same type of cooky. >> truly. >> and the only difference should be just the face. >> this is in the swing state of ohio in a swing area that the candidates have visited a lot. >> a schwing. >> november 6 streak, never heard of this one. since election day standardized in 1845 six presidential elections that fell on november 6th and republicans have all won all six of them, that streak began in 1860 with the streak of abraham lincoln and in 1984 ronald reagan beat walter mondale so if november 6th is supposedly good for republicans, that's an indication. >> looking at the redskins poll and this, you know, that latest, then i guess --

>> the cookie poll. >> if the election is not called until the 7th then maybe it changes. >> maybe, i don't know. >> all right. take two. a house divided. the "new york times" blog poses the question what happens when you and a family member differ politically over the candidates that you support? >> well, i grew up in a household where there was definitely one parent on each side and it became heated, heated discussion. >> did they talk politics at the dinner table? >> all the time, and i think they finally both decided for things to work and for it to be a better dinner conversation across the board the political talk had to end. >> did it bother you guys as kids listening to mom and dad argue? >> i think it was good because i really grew up getting a sense of both sides of the aisle and what the debates were about, so i got a good sense of, you know, interested in politics early on i think because of that, but at the same time there's a place, a time and place for everything, and when it becomes too much, then, you know, you need -- you need to make sure you limit that

conversation. >> ex-communicated and cut everybody out of the will who doesn't agree with us. just kidding. totally open discussion. there's strong beliefs in the wagner family. luckily they are shared among many family members. >> you can sit around and agree with each other. we understand there are people out there that are different, with different ideologies and political leanings. >> what about you? >> we -- growing up we had that in my house right now we have a difference of opinions, and, you know, i'm not saying what, but the -- it has led for interesting conversation with the kids. >> yeah. it's good to debate i think but sometimes it gets so heated so i think you have to at a time when it gets too upsetting to step sglak when t back. >> when the police are called. >> democracy, making sure you hear their opinions. >> online voting. this is a question a lot of people have been saying. how come we can't vote online? seems like we do everything else online. wouldn't it make life so much

easier and especially in countries like canada, norway, australia, they have adopted these online voting systems and it's worked there, so a lot of proponents are saying this would help boost voter turnout, especially the youth vote, but there are people who say, you know, this would create an unlevel voteing field for seni s seniors. don't have access to computers, probably won't get out in that way and people are worried about hackers for hacking into the system and people swaying the vote >> i think you should -- certain things shouldn't be made easy. you know what? this is something that our forefathers fought for. people died for this right, you know, but we both, you know, in civil rights, and, you know, for wars, and i think, you know, there's nothing wrong with going out and actually, like deborah took nicky out this morning, and watched the process work. >> it's fun, it's fun. >> and some people actually give out coffee and doughnuts at the polling place. you get free cove and free doughnuts. >> so there you go.

>> more reeasons to go to the polls. >> people should have more chances to vote, if the technology is there to help working class families get there and exercise their fundamental american right, i think that's good too, you know. maybe it's not an either/or. >> because of the hurricane, like new jersey, they have actually allowed people to vote online. >> and i think in new york city they announced you can go to any polling station. >> if you're affected by it, go to any polling station. >> exactly. >> we have a bonus take. alex? >> the woman in the white house? >> a woman in the white house, there is a new sheryl crow song called "woman in the white house" downloadable for free. >> i don't think that's it. >> i don't think that's it. ♪ >> that's not it either. >> it's a little bit funkier and more country. >> there we go. >> that sounds like it. >> good track. >> and the song has provoked some critics, which is interesting. >> i like the first one though. ♪

>> it sounds like a mom in chief. >> oh, the baby elephant. >> focus, people, back to "woman in the white house." some of the lyrics to the song, time to clean out capitol hill with had a shovel and a pair of high heels because we need a little female common sense. well, we like to spend money, but not money we ain't got, and we can balance a checkbook so i think people have maybe taken it and it sounds a little bit like mom, a first housewife. female cliches or something. >> get a woman in the white house, get some more in the senate. get some more in congress. congress is only 17% female. >> yeah. >> and as we know that does not reflect the gender breakdown of the united states. >> right. >> so i say songs and action. let's go, ladies. >> whether you wear high heels or not. >> exactly. >> and we can balance a checkbook. >> and there's some male senators who wear high heels. >> that is a story. alex wagner, thanks so much. >> have fun today. >> this is the super bowl. >> coming up next, the original

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and spaghettio's. a wand, some wings, soup with good things. sidewalks and doodles and wholesome noodles. puddles and pails and yes, puppy dog tails. for a lunch like this, there's a hug and a kiss. because that's what happy kids are made of. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. yeah we both relieve coughs, sneezing, aches, fevers. and i relieve nasal congestion. overachiever. [ female announcer ] tylenol® cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion. nyquil® cold and flu doesn't. oh, did you want it? yea we'll split it. [ female announcer ] made fresh, so light, buttery and flakey. that's half that's not half! guys, i have more! thanks mom [ female announcer ] pillsbury crescents. let the making begin it's debilitating when you try to talk, when you're trying to eat, when you're trying to sleep. i'm constantly licking my lips.

water would address the symptoms for just a few minutes. the hygienist recommended biotene. it's clean and refreshing, i feel like i have plenty of fluid in my mouth. i brush with the biotene toothpaste and i use the mouthwash every morning. it's changed my life. it is the last thing i do before i walk out the door. biotene gives me that fresh confident feeling. in the advertising world a cute baby with a round face and big eyes is synonymous with the gerber baby. the original gerber baby is here. first a look back on the iconic image. >> few advertising images are as iconic as the gerber baby. a print ad that debuted in 1928

and went on to become synonymous with the brand for decades. a familiar baby face that evolved from black and white photos to television ads. >> this extra care goes into quality gerber juices. >> but who is the face of gerber? an artist sketched ann turn nir cook and her face was chosen after a nationwide contest to find the ideal baby for a new line of products. her baby face went be on to be trademarked years later, and now a new generation of smiling babies recently competed for the coveted title of the gerber baby. a new face for a new generation. >> and we are revealing the winner right now of the new generation of gerber. her name is mary jane. her parents are sarah and billy montoya along with the original gerber baby, ann turner cook. good morning to all of you. >> good morning. >> congratulations, sarah and

billy. and what an incredible thing for mary jane. she's gorgeous and adorable. there was tough competition there. 300,000 people submitted pictures. >> yes. we basically submitted the picture the very last day of the entry within the last two hours of the time frame. it took a little while to get that picture, too, because she would not stop looking at the grass and the birds. turning her face. so it did take a while to get the shot, but once we got it we submitted it and we finally got it in just in the nick of time. >> did you have a lot of hope? did you think you had a winner there? >> you know, of course we think our baby is adorable and beautiful. >> absolutely. >> every parent sees that in their child. >> she has the gerber spunk for sure. >> you can finally tell, billy, your family because you've been sitting on this for three weeks. >> very tough to keep this from our family. so exciting. bursting at the seams with pride. you can't wait until she grows up she was the gerber baby. >> there's a cash prize of

$50,000. what do you plan to do that? >> higher education. we understand the value and it will go to college. >> mary jane is not replacing ann turner altogether? >> no. >> this is a year long new campaign. >> she'll be in some dwgerber advertisements. >> ann, tell me how that changed your life becoming the face in the 1920s. >> yes. the drawing was sold to the gerber company in 1928. ever since then i've been the face of every product that gerber made. it's been wonderful to me to be the symbol for babies. i've become a symbol worldwide for babies, but even more important for such a good product. i can always be very proud of the product because it's always been good nutrition for babies. >> you still have those same cheeks and that sparkle in your eyes for sure. i know your children, you have four grown children. >> i have four children. >> they're all very proud of the fact. i know they go about taughting

that you're the original gerber baby everywhere they can. >> yes, they do. even in a grocery store we'd go down the aisle and they'd point out, that's my mother's picture. it's hard to explain to people. >> what do you think of this being the new generation? >> she is just adorable. and she's a delightful little person. >> she's got that gerber spirit. it's great to have you all here. congratulations. that's a great face all right. there's the gerber baby for you. thank you so much. congratulations to you. >> we're so honored. >> coming up. we're going to switch gears. the foods to reach for when the afternoon snack attack craving hits. but first these messages. cravi that hits, but first these messages. perfect golden color. rich in fiber. my dad taught me, and i taught my son out there. morning, pa. wait... who's driving the...? ♪ 99 bushels of wheat on the farm, 99 bushels of wheat ♪ [ male announcer ] yep, there's 8 layers of whole grain fiber in those mini-wheats® biscuits...

to help keep you full... ♪ 45 bushels of wheat ...all morning long. there's a big breakfast... [ mini ] yee haw! ...in those fun little biscuits. your mouth has been snacking, gift stacking, nutcracking and yellowing. because if you're not whitening, you're yellowing. crest whitestrips remove over 10 years of stains, just in time for a white holiday. crest 3d white whitestrips. i just finished a bowl of your new light chicken pot pie soup and it's so rich and creamy... is it really 100 calories? let me put you on webcan... ...lean roasted chicken... and a creamy broth mmm i can still see you. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. yay! come get into bed. this is a story about jingle the husky pup. and jingle was a good dog. ruff! ruff! jingle loved to bark hello. ruff! ruff! ruff! ruff! jingle even loved to sing. ruff! ruff! ruff! ruff! ruff! jingle!

let's read the book to him. jingle, stay. and jingle did. ruff! ruff! [ female announcer ] hallmark interactive story buddies. when you read key words, jingle responds. chips, chips! [ female announcer ] silence those tempting thoughts with new light & fit greek. its creamy thick texture helps satisfy you. and at 80 calories it's the lightest greek yogurt with fruit. new light & fit greek. be light and fit and satisfied. the freshenator. the buddy system.

the do si go. the two-handed tango. el cleaño. [ female announcer ] nothing leaves you feeling cleaner and fresher than the cottonelle care routine. try it. then name it. why use temporary treatments when you can prevent the acid that's causing it with prevacid24hr. with one pill prevacid24hr works at the source to prevent the acid that causes frequent heartburn all day and all night. and with new prevacid24hr perks, you can earn rewards from dinner deals to music downloads for purchasing prevacid24hr. prevent acid all day and all night for 24 hours with prevacid24hr. . still to come on "today," go the-too foods you need on hand when you need a boost that won't bust your healthy diet. >> and the newest products in beauty for your hair, skin and nails, but first your local news and weather. would love this, huh?

jack? jaaack? jaaack?! jack?! looks good ladies! jack! come on, stop the car. jack! no, no, no, no, no! the only thing more surprising than finding the perfect gifts.. niice. ...is where you find them. how did you know? i had a little help. this is how to gift. this is sears. it's eb. want to give your family the very best in taste, freshness, and nutrition? it's eb. eggland's best. better taste. better nutrition. better eggs. too bad the guys aren't here we're clear. ok, swarm! swarm! hello [ female announcer ] pillsbury chocolate chip cookies. let the making begin

good tuesday morning to you. 9:26. i'm laura garcia-cannon. california voters have choices to make in the election that will affect the state for years to come. one of the biggest issues o the ballot is prop 30. governor brown's tax initiative. prop 30 would raise the sales tax and income taxes for the highest earners. the money would go for prison realignment and education. prop 38 funded by civil rights attorney molly munger. it would increase income taxes on a sliding scale for most californians and raise an estimated $10 billion a year for schools and pay down state debt. if both 30 and 38 pass, the one

with the most votes will win. to make sure voting in the bay area goes smoothly, we have the investigative unit on the task. call 888-996-tips or send an e-mail to theunit@nbcbayarea.com. remember to tune in to nbc bay area for election results. our coverage starts at 3:00. we will take a quick break and check weather and traffic right after.

welcome back. time is 9:28. a beautiful live picture over san francisco. you can see for about 5 to 8 miles from this live picture. with the absence of fog, it is a fantastic day. 80 degrees at the coast. 83 bay side. temperatures will drop significantly as of tomorrow down in the mid-70s inland.

then the 50s return thursday into friday with a lot of rain as well. let's check on the drive. good morning, mike. we have a lot of traffic. north 880 past the coliseum, that's over on your right. things were jammed up at high street, but starting to calm down over the last ten minutes. we see a lot of orange and red north on 880 and west on interstate 580. slow through alamo. back to you, laura. thank you very much. thank you for joining us. another local news update is coming up in half an hour. have a great morning.

♪ get out, get out, get out of my head ♪ ♪ and fall in my arms instead >> if you've got a tween in the house, then these guys need no introduction. they are the hottest boy band from britain, one direction, and they are going to be taking over the plaza one week from today, so if you're in the area come on down. bring your best sign. you could win concert tickets from the band. it's going to be a very prouded plaza. we also want to let you know that the stars of the newest "twilight" movie will be stopping by beginning tomorrow with kristen stewart. thursday it's robert pattinson and friday taylor lautner will be here so twihard be sure to tune in. >> a tween extravaganza. >> tweenapalooza. >> i'm savannah guthrie. >> and i'm natalie morales.

>> the snack foods you should always have around the house that should fill you up without filling you out. do you see any peanut but they are? probably not, and the beauty trends of the moment from skin dreams to makeup to keep you looking fresh. >> and on this election day we're visiting our class of 2020 practicing their right to vote in their own fifth grade student council elections. >> that's cute. >> but first let's check in with al who is on democracy plaza. >> i made my way down to washington, d.c. to get in the white house press briefing room. only kidding. down here on the concourse. part of democracy plaza. you can have your picture taken in either a replica of the white house briefing room or walk with me, duane. you can get your picture taken in the oval office. wow, look at this. what's your names? >> evan. >> and olivia. >> where are you guys from?

>> from california. >> they are from california, and there they are and very cute and freckled and red-haired. that's democracy at its best. let's show you what we've got going on for our weather today, along with southeastern atlantic states, a lot of wet weather for election day and plenty of sunshine making its way into the pacific northwest. hey, get your feet off the desk. put your feet up at home? and then for tonight we're looking hat more rain making it way up the mid-atlantic. swing states looking pretty good, and i don't think that's democracy at work. >> no. >> anyway, that's 9:32. welcome back. temperatures are looking fabulous for today. beautiful clear start over san jose. the same sky prevailing above the entire bay area. no fog to report. temperatures are going to arrive with a record for today. 86 degrees in livermore.

79 in fremont. as we head through the next couple of days, temperatures keep on dropping. we are in the 50s thursday and friday. >> and that's your latest weather. ladies? >> all right, al. >> thank you. >> coming up next, the hottest new trends in beauty right after this. ♪

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beauty," you newest trends. our lifestyle expert has scoured the market from harris to nails to help you find the best. good morning. >> good morning. >> there's new products and new technology all the time. you brought us the latest and greatest. you start with skin care. hyperpigmentation is the new wrinkle. what do you mean by that? >> we focus so much attention on wrinkles, what really ages us is our uneven tone so recent developments have shown that uneven tone is how we register aging. so that fresh glow to our skin, so this is going to be a bipartisan choice because it's natural and effective. you can choose both. they have a full system with apple plant stem cells that will help to diminish uneven tones and give you a healthy growth. >> brown spots or dark spots as you age. kind of helping with that. >> perfect system. >> my dermatologist uses this skin care system.

>> elure is amazing and has won every award out there. it contains a mushroom extract. it helps did i miminish an unev tone. >> this is more natural. >> exactly. >> now olay a top brandywiner as well. >> it is. so we have learned our abcs of dreams and now we're on to cc dreams. this is going to be like its predecessor in that it gives you the coverage, the spf around moic moistization and contains more anti-aging and will help with more coverage so this is better for your skin. >> what's this? >> going into the aging hair section. >> because your hair shows your age, too, thinner, less lustrous. >> it does. on average we lose 100 strands of hair per day, and as we get older that process slows down. those replacement hairs don't come back and hair should have

13% moisture but we also lose that as we age. >> right. >> this is a collect of different products they will add in some of those benefits so hair care companies are pulling from skin care companies and adding in the anti-aging ingredients. >> what are some of the ingredients? >> this one uses caviar that helps smooth the hair follicle and this uses vitamin e and this mask that will split out the cuticle as well and add vibrancy back into the hair. >> and air tools. >>flatteners dry out the hair. this one has a fabric side to protect your hair and allows it to breathe. you get the sleek hair but there's volume. it does an incredible job of adding volume but not drying it out. >> let's move on to teeth because your smile can really tell a lot, really shows your age a lot if you have yellowed teeth or discoloration to your teeth. seen all the whitening systems but now the whitening systems

basically work within minutes. >> we all know whitening teeth are so important but sometimes it's hard to do it every day or spend hours. new technology that makes it very accessible. this is luster now. it actually contains a blue toothpaste. >> it's blue. >> that's going to get these white. >> optical effect. right away you can use it. >> interesting. >> after drinking a glass of wine, use this and it will take away the redness. pop some gum in your mouth by super smile and glo has a textured tip and rub away the stains before they settle. >> after that glass of wine, take that stick and there you go go. >> now over here, the new trends in beauty, bold lips. >> bold bright red lips. >> yeah. >> you want to be classy, not flashy with your lips, and so choose your deep berries and reds. ox blood is a popular color this season so use that, but the biggest problem with reds is they bleed very easily. darker shades bleed very easily so use a translucent powder first and then a pencil.

it will create a barrier so your lipstick doesn't blend in, and if you're afraid of wearing any type of deep reds, go into a shotter shade. this is a collection of lighter pinks that allows it to be easier. >> and blushes. >> juxtapose that bright tara lipinski s with the more pale neutral-colored cheek. >> if you have more of a dry skin, use this, it's a cream bush, builds easily. >> real quick, running out of time, colored nails and here we're seeing candidate colors for today. >> democracy at work. red and blue. >> if you don't want that you can still go neutral. >> talking, if you want to do what i do and stay bipartisan and wear both colors. >> sarah, thank you so much. >> thank you. nice to be here. >> coming up, the best foods to reach for when you need a quick snack or a healthy meal. joy bauer is here. the capital one cash rewards card gives you 1% cash back on all purchases, plus a 50% annual bonus.

and everyone likes 50% more... [ midwestern/chicago accent ] cheddar! yeah! 50 percent more [yodeling] yodel-ay-ee-oo. 50% more flash. [ southern accent ] 50 percent more taters. that's where tots come from. [ male announcer ] the capital one cash rewards card gives you 1% cash back on every purchase plus a 50% annual bonus on the cash you earn. it's the card for people who like more cash. 50% more spy stuff. what's in your wallet? this car is too small. has oats that can help lower cholesterol? and it tastes good? sure does! wow. it's the honey, it makes it taste so... well, would you look at the time... what's the rush? be happy. be healthy. what are you lookin' at? i wasn't... not looking at anything... we're not good enough for you. must be supermodels? what do you model gloves? brad, eat a snickers. why? 'cause you get a little angry when you're hungry. better? [ male announcer ] you're not you when you're hungry™. better. [ male announcer ] snickers satisfies. [ male announcer ] you're not you when you're hungry™. better.

♪ and the kids always eat their ivegetables.ue beacause the salad there is always served with the original hidden valley ranch. it's the way ranch is supposed to taste. and try new hidden valley for everything. it's in the ketchup aisle. the freshenator. the buddy system.

the do si go. the two-handed tango. el cleaño. [ female announcer ] nothing leaves you feeling cleaner and fresher than the cottonelle care routine. try it. then name it. well, inside the brewer, there's a giant staircase. and the room is filled with all these different kinds of coffee. actually, i just press this button. brew what you love, simply. keurig. ♪ you make me happy [ female announcer ] choose the same brand your mom trusted for you. children's tylenol, the #1 brand of pain and fever relief recommended by pediatcians and used by moms decade after decade. chips, chips! [ female announcer ] silence those tempting thoughts with new light & fit greek. its creamy thick texture helps satisfy you. and at 80 calories it's the lightest greek yogurt with fruit. new light & fit greek. be light and fit and satisfied. and you pick the price that works for you. great. whoa, whoa, jamie.

watch where you point that thing. [ mocking ] "watch where you point that thing." you point yours, i point mine. okay, l-let's stay calm. [ all shouting ] put it down! be cool! everybody, just be cool! does it price better on the side? no, it just looks cooler. the name your price tool, only from progressive. call or click today. i got you covered. thank you. oh, you're so welcome. this morning on "take it off today" healthy foods to have on hand in your fridge, freezer and pantry. "today" contributor and nutritionist joy bauer say these staples will help you whip up a quick meal to help keep you on your diet track. first of all, happy birthday. >> thank you. >> joy bauer. >> a national shutout. >> i got the birthday tingles. >> on election day. >> very nice. >> there's three things.

we've got your fridge, your freezer and your pantry and things you should have in there to keep from you going off the healthy eating. >> there are a gazillion healthy items but these in my opinion are some of the best of the best. >> starting in the fridge, your eggs. >> one egg supplies you with six grams of high quality protein, and they are so versatile, from breakfast to dinner. make fritattass for dinner all the time, reduced-fat cheese and so many brands and get the same amount of calcium and protein and less calories and less of the bad fat. >> and they used to taste kind of rubbery, not anymore. >> as lange as it's reduced fat. you want to avoid the fat-free but this tastes like the real mccoy. >> you say use hummus. >> every refrigerator should have a brand of a non-fat plain yogurt, either greek or regular because you can use it instead of sour cream for dips and recipes. >> greek yogurt has become so hot now. >> so hot and a lot of proteins. >> and, of course, vegetables.

>> veggies. >> a few that i want to sort of feature, one bell pepper has more than twice the amount of vitamin c as an orange, and we're getting into cold and flu season so we want to boost the immune system and when it comes to the green vegetables, kale and baby spinach leaves. it's like having a multi-vitamin. they are packed with everything from "a" to "z." anti-oxidants that promote short vision and a fun fact. baby spin each leaves, al, have more nutrients than fully matured spinach because the young leaves are more biological and active. >> i don't know if that's a fun fact, but it's an interesting one, not so much to me. >> fun if you're a nutritionist. we're a little warped. >> going to the freezer. >> when it comes to the freezer, i look to stock my nuts and seeds in the freezer because it keeps them fresher longer. great snack or extension for diabetics because it won't spike your blud sugar. >> edamame in the pod, i call them magic beans. >> the magic bean is packed with

protein and fiber and kids love them. >> fresh versus frozen. >> just as much nutrition. don't be afrase frayed of frozen vegetables and fruit and there's no ways and on the added season month they are more available. >> and then to the pantry. this stuff won't go bad. >> oats, whether it's quick-cooking oats or the pope of oats. >> the pope of oats. >> it's all whole grain, all loaded with finer. >> can also be the rabbi of oats. >> or the rabbi of oats, that's right. >> not just for breakfast because you can use it to thicken soup and because of junkie refined bread crumbs as a binder of things like turkey meatloaf and turkey meat balls, what do you think? >> absolutely. >> whole grain pasta and marina sauce. everybody needs this in their pantry. when it comes to marina sauce, it could be a salt bomb. you want to look for brands with no more than 350 milligrams of sodium, two or less. >> salmon. >> this is wild salmon, either in the can or in the pouch. it's got more heart healthy

omega three fats and whenever you can swap your tuna salad fortuna salad, add this with hot sauce, drink this stuff like crazy in my house. go with nut butters, so many great ones. >> lentils. >> good for your body and environment. go for low sodium, if you rinse them from a cole lander you reduce about 40% of the salt. >> coming up, election day through the eyes of fifth graders when we visit the class

in our class of 2020 series we've been following a group of student from their first day of kindergarten to their high school graduation. >> and as their parents get ready to vote in today's election two of our students have been running their own

campaigns for fifth grade student council president, and they are just finding out how tough politics can be at any level. >> obviously the president needs to be a school leader it's less than a month before student council elections and the candidates are learning what it takes to run for office. >> you will stand up and give a speech as to why you want to run for president. >> for fifth graders like caroline it's the last chance to be president in elementary school. >> give me the markers. >> every good campaign needs a good poster, and caroline's is straightforward. as she puts the finishing touches on her speech, caroline starts to find her voice as a candidate. >> what are you going to promise? >> i don't know. >> are you going to promise anything? >> i don't want to promise anything. >> that's probably smart. >> because then if it doesn't happen. >> i'm nervous because i want to know who wins, but i'm excited because it's a fun process. >> just a few blocks away

caroline's classmate and a good friend is preparing her own speech. >> hello, my name is ruby, and i'm running for your school president. >> ruby is branding herself as the truth candidate. >> i think you have to make a distinction and say instead of making promises i'm going to give you my ideas. >> and her poster is as colorful as her personality. for ruby making posters is the easy part. the hard part is running for president against one of her best friends. >> i don't want to lose friendships with caroline because i love caroline. >> ruby and caroline have been good friends since kindergarten. >> we promised each other we wouldn't get mad at each other if one of us won. >> on the day before the election, 300 students filled the auditorium to heart candidates make their pitch. a fifth grader named tyler kicked off the presidential candidate speeches with a bang. >> make some noise. if you want more sports tournaments. >> yeah! >> in her speech caroline

stresses her accomplishments. >> i favor recycling and did student council last year as class representative. >> and then it's ruby's turn. >> you'll hear a lot of candidates make promises that they won't keep, but i'm not making any promises. no promises. but i do have some great ideas. >> all that is left now is the voting and the counting of the ballots. >> very close between two candidates for president at this point. >> at the end of the day the candidates gather in the library to learn the results. >> i see that a lot of you are nervous, so i just want everybody to take a deep breath and relax your bodies. >> after a few minutes of anxiety and anticipation the principal announces the results to the school. >> please excuse the interruption. the results from student council election are in. president tyler gannet. >> caroline is speechless and ruby has to be consoled by her

friends. >> are you okay? >> i'm fine. >> after school caroline and ruby comfort each other while the new president gets a big hug from his dad. ruby thinks she knows the secret to tyler's success. >> he got the whole entire third grade to vote for him. >> turns out a ground game is important, even in elementary school elections. a valuable lesson for the girls' next attempt at politics. >> maybe just walk around campus a little more. >> yeah. >> maybe just like get to know people more. >> all about that ground game. well, caroline and ruby say they feel good about how they ran their campaigns, and most important they maintained their friendship throughout the process and for more on the class of 2020 visit our website,

at 9:56, we are following breaking news in the central valley. fresno police are responding to a workplace shooting that shutdown a thoroughfare in fres fresno. black stone avenue near mckinley is closed after reports of gunfire. we are hearing at least three people are hurt, maybe more.

again, reports of a workplace shooting in fresno. black stone avenue is closed right now. we are waiting for an update from fresno police. we will have more for you as the story develops. in the meantime, let's check the roads in the bay area. mike. good morning. we are still looking at oakland. i showed you the result of the accident earlier. it has cleared. we see slowing again past the coliseum. reports of a disabled vehicle along the stretch. we checked with the camera. we did not see it from this view. it might be blocked from the coliseum. that means the orange now in the middle of the screen will turn red shortly. if that is your option, take that. 680 both directions are slow. the accident on the northbound side through alamo is over on the shoulder now. the distraction. that is a typically congested

area through san ramon. we also have more slowing as you look at the freeways from sunol and then at mission. the roadways are moving smoothly. no major disruption. we will give you a live look outside as we head to the palo alto side. the northbound side heading up to the top of your screen. there have been a series of accidents at willow and marsh. it is causing a slowdown out of mountain view through palo alto. mike, thanks so much. another news update in 30 minutes. tune in to nbc bay area for your election updates. we will be on the air starting at 3:00 this afternoon. we will see you at 10:26.

from nbc news, this is "today" with kathie lee gifford and hoda kotb. live from studio 1-a in rockefeller plaza. >> hello, everybody, hoda and i want to wish you a happy booze day today. it is election day, november 6th. >> it certainly is. >> i have already voted. for the first time in my life, i did -- what is it called? >> ababsentee. >> that's it. so there's no way of getting home. we know i won't get out at all. >> a will the of people are at the polls. my mom called me this morning at 6:15, and she said i'm on the line. >> i love the way she talks. >> i don't remember now.

>> there she is, cutest thing. >> go past my mom all the way down. >> that's at 6:15? >> yeah, she was there early, she was midway through. >> how long did it take her actually in line, hoda? >> by 6:30 or 6:45 she voted and was taking more pictures of the line. once you get in there, it starts going. here is kelsey's baby. i guess kelsey baby loaded, because you can get those kind of stickers. people were tweeting all these great pictures. carrie m. showed the lines in virginia. virginia, again, is a swing state, so a lot of people are coming out to vote there. that's in atlanta. that was becky's line. jen from jupiter, florida, she has a voting partner. >> darling. >> in jersey, polling places with power will be open. >> i heard it was raining. >> some parts. >> jupiter is south. i hear around orlando it's raining. >> everyone says this election

is going to be -- >> all about turnout. >> who knows tonight if we're going to know or tomorrow or what's going to be happening. well, we do know what happened in dicksville notch. it's the first place in the country, they've been doing it since 1948, i think. 1960, 1960. i guess the card is wrong. i certainly couldn't be, but the card is capable of it. >> all ten people who live there. >> all ten people. >> all ten people voted. here's the results from dixville notch. of the five people -- >> of the ten people. >> five voted for mitt romney and five voted for barack obama. look how it's -- everyone knows who everyone voted. >> that's going to be like the nation, don't you think? virgil goode got nothing. that's got to be embarrassing.

in a town of ten? he didn't get one, didn't he vote for himself? that doesn't make any sense. certainly, he voted for himself. >> don't knock virgil, he's having a bad day already. >> i feel bad for virgil, somebody should give him a mercy vote. how do you show your face in dixville notch, hoda? jimmy fallon had an exciting way of telling who's going to be the next president. he has a girl but her name is gary. he put out two bowls of food, each marked with a name, and let his puppy choose. >> let's watch. >> gary, as i'm sure you know, mitt romney is a free market purist while barack obama thinks -- gary, pay attention. romney has promised to cut spending and repeal obama care

and obama wants america to become energy independent by focusing on clean energy. these are just the basics, but they should help you make an informed decision. are you ready to vote, gary? all right, here we go, guys, good luck, the next four years. here you go, gary. mitt romney! gary is going for mitt romney. >> when he picks him up, which i hope we show, the reveal it is, in fact, a girl. >> it is a girl. i should have brought bambino. who would know better than bambino? here's some other vote predictors, odd ball things people think works. here's the world series rule, if the american league wins the world series, the republican league wins the election. if the national league wins the championship, the democrat will prevail. the san francisco giants won, so according to that little bit means obama wins. >> right. and the redskins rule is if the

washington redskins win their last home win the incumbent takes the white house. it's been accurate 17 out of the last 18 elections. the redskins lost to the carolina panthers, so the winner is romney. >> here's the only way to really tell who's going to win the election. >> it's always in the nuts. >> it's about noke, a squirrel from charleston, south carolina. he predicts who's going to be the president by whose nuts he ends up eating. there's a bowl of nuts for romney -- >> thank you for clearing that up. >> so what nuts did noke eat? >> he ate nine peanuts from the romney bowl and only five from the obama bowl. let's see if noke is right. who knows. you know who knows? that's it. that's who knows. all the pundits are all over the map. everybody's way to victory to the 270 electoral. let's talk about that. now that we're on the subject and we're not going to reveal who we're supporting.

you don't need anymore agony in your life. we were talking this morning in the make-up room about how regardless of who wins or loses, it seems to me we have lost something very, very powerful by not letting every american feel like their vote counts somehow. i understand the need for the electoral college when our founding fathers were putting together, you know, the plan. they were brilliant, brilliant men, but in today's world, it seems to me that it's so exclusive. add up, let everybody's vote count exactly the same. and while we are on that, why do we get -- do you agree with that, by the way? >> here's the deal, you do feel in a lot of states it doesn't matter because your state is going a certain way, therefore, what's the point. i like the idea of everyone voting. i don't think you can complain unless you vote. i just think inside it's an important thing. i do think it seems a little old

fashioned. a lot of things seem old fashioned. last night it was 5:00 and it's dark. >> i know. who made that great idea? >> think about that concept. i get it, farmers back in the day, but now all our entire nation, except indiana or something -- >> arizona or something. >> something, they turn the clocks. imagine if you were living across the world and look at us, oh, this is the day all the people in america change their clocks in the airports and everyone falls back an hour. we're messing with the clocks. i think now we can leave that alone. the sunny one, the one we like, where it's lighter later. >> that's right. >> i care about it a lot. >> why do we always have the election the first tuesday in november? >> well, there are some reasons. there are some facts about that. >> hoda is going to wait until they come up. >> it's the harvest and farmers again. >> farmers are ruing our lyes. when farmers were least needed

was after the harvest. couldn't be monday, because it usually took them a day to get to a polling place. >> right. >> okay. so they put it on a tuesday. couldn't be wednesday, because they have market day, market day. >> sunday was the sabbath. >> people back then cared about going to church, which leaves thirsty thursday, everyone wants to get drunk by then. >> let's talk about booze day tuesday for a minute. it is booze day tuesday in addition to being election day. not everyone can celebrate booze day tuesday. >> we're in solidarity right now with south carolina and kentucky. >> you're out of luck, you can't have this. here's the rule. 80 years after prohibition's repeal, those were the only two that banned alcohol in restaurants and bars on election day. >> you can buy your vote with drinks. >> yeah. >> still could. maybe we should follow kentucky and south carolina into this thing. >> anyway, they can't celebrate.

i heard a rumor about that. >> all righty. anyway, here's our booze day tuesday drink. >> scott conint, who's on later in our show. am i pronouncing our guest right? >> i think so. >> it's got gin. i don't want to get my tongue blue. >> do it. >> quite the punch. i forgot who i voted for. sara is over at democracy plaza. >> this is a big deal we have outside. >> we want more of you to know about it, it's cool. >> hi, sara. >> there's so much fun stuff going on out here. you can get your picture taken in the oval office or white house press briefing room. there's some caricature artists that can draw your pictures. they made this fourth hour and i made some corrections. everyone knows that's chardonnay. but also you can do a mock nbc news report, all the festivities are here until 8:00 p.m. tonight. they are expecting thousands to

watch the election coverage on the big screen, so if you haven't been here, come out and see what's going on here at rockefeller plaza. >> can we see that picture one more time, sara, i don't know if you can hear us. >> can you shoot us here? >> widen out, i'm scared. >> oh, my god! do i look like that, seriously? >> a little. >> no, hoda, you do not. >> only in a fifth wind. >> what are you -- you're making it worse. >> i'm not an artist, i was taking my own. there are professionals here. >> wow. wow. somebody needs to see dr dr. wrexler. okay, parenting in public. how do manage your kids when they make a scene in front of everybody. everything you need to keep warm and stylish in winter after this. fit 'em in my budget. well, with the walmart credit card special financing offer, you can get the sony blu-ray home theater system with wi-fi and the high zoom cyber-shot camera with full hd. look at you, spreading some christmas joy!

my cart's kinda full. mind holding these? sure. you know what, muscle man, me and you together, we can knock this christmas thing out. this way, sweetie. [ male announcer ] get the season's hottest brands like the sony blu-ray home theater system. make an electronics purchase of $429 or more on your walmart credit card and get no interest if paid in full within 18 months. america's gift headquarters. walmart. this reduced sodium soup says it may help lower cholesterol, how does it work? you just have to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet. step 1. eat the soup. all those veggies and beans, that's what may help lower your cholesterol and -- well that's easy [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

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i know. i know you're a robot! but there's more in you than just circuits and wires! uhhh. (cries) a machine can't give you what a person can. that's why ally has knowledgeable people there for you, night and day. ally bank. your money needs an ally. it's something every parent has to deal with. you make a quick trip to the supermarket or head out to a

restaurant and your kid has a major meltdown, crying, screaming, whining, the works. >> it's one thing to discipline them at home. it's another when everyone is watching and judging. so how do you parent in public? here with some solutions, executive editor of "parents" magazine. and new york times best selling author. >> hi, ladies. >> i'm only five chapters into lisa's new book, and it is fabulous. you recognize yourself in this book right off the bat, then you realize she's so much worse than you are, which is great. we like that. it's so honest, congratulations. >> good for you. >> we lose control over things and it teaches you how to stay in control of what you can't control. >> speaking of that very thing, there are times when you're out with your kids and you do have that feeling, my kid's having a meltdown, i'm in the grocery

store. what's the 101 on a situation like that? >> you do need to take a deep breath. chances are people in the store watching the tantrum have been through it themselves. >> it's the people without children that are the most judgmental. they can be the people that put you down the most for having a meltdown with a child. >> it was interesting, when we talked to the grocery store clerks, they had good tips. put your kids in charge of something at the store. >> give them a task. >> yeah, give them a task. if they are going to be there in the cart, they are going to whine for food, to get out. give him the shopping list to check off for you, that's what my daughter does. >> they have to be old enough to be able to do it. >> with toddlers, hand them bananas, yellow. keep them involved. >> should you apologize if the meltdown happens, first thing, i'm sorry, i'm sorry. is that the right thing to do? >> i think in the moment you

have to assess what is most urgent and realize that just because you're having a bad moment doesn't make you a bad mother. you may have nothing to apologize for. it may be more important to address with your child in this moment and quickly assess, are they acting this way because they feel insecure or are being defiant. if defiant, maybe an apology is in order, but if they are being hungry, tired, insecure, than really give your child the attention they are crying out for. >> prep your child for what you're about to step into, for instance, going to the doctors or something. >> absolutely, do role-playing at home, get out a play set, give them a play shot, tell them it might hurt, be honest. don't tell them it might hurt. >> sting for just a second. >> you don't want to scare them from the doctor. a doctor should be a place they feel comfortable. there's less likely to be a tantrum if they know what to expect. >> what if they do throw a

tantrum? cody did it one time in bloomingdales, i said we're out of here, grabbed him, and took him home. did i do the right thing? >> i think so. remove your child from the situation. >> can't reason with them when they are doing it. >> don't try to reason with them. don't try to have a conversation with an irrational child. >> no place to have a time-out, you know, can't take them some place in bloomingdales. >> your car, the street, some place calm you can calm down and they can calm down as well. >> doesn't make you a bad mother to have bad moments. we've all been there. got to have a little mercy with one another. >> thank you for coming to see it, appreciate it. >> appreciate it. the world is her canvas, sara has fun with spray paint. i thought that was against the law. >> it is. >> right after this. hmm these smell amazing,

too bad the guys aren't here we're clear. ok, swarm! swarm! hello [ female announcer ] pillsbury chocolate chip cookies. let the making begin [ male announcer ] it's that time of year. time for campbell's green bean casserole. you'll find the recipe at campbellskitchen.com. ♪ campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do.

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the city. this week sara learns the art -- >> okay. >> this is a different kind of graffi graffiti. >> who looks freakier, okay? >> trying to figure out, there's somebody you look like. >> a drag queen. i look like a drag queen. >> that's what it is. lucky chengs, that's right, that's what it is. >> don't go deeper here. sara heads across the bridge into queens, new york, a hot spot where culture is really cool. >> i got to visit a building covered with spray paint, but besides the art, it's known for its hip-hop culture and i got a chance to explore this graffiti artist mecca. often people think of graffiti as vandalism, but in long island city, new york, graffiti isn't a crime, but a work of art. >> it's the largest art center in the world. it means it is the biggest legal spot for graffiti artists from

all over the world to come and paint. >> and they do. founded in 2002, five points is a five-story building where thousands of artists have come to display their work. it's not just the walls you guys have painted. >> we paint everything. >> with the dumpsters, one man's trash is another man's treasure. >> yeah, it looks better. >> definitely. >> more than just a psychedelic space, people come to dance, deejay, and have fun. i met up with the dynamic rockers. why five points? >> it's legal. we're able to express ourselves here like a safe haven. >> can you show me a couple moves in dynamics? don't judge a book by its cover. ♪ yeah! just joined the troops. i'm sweating. on the street, i found another

part of the hip-hop community. two beat boxers were making music without instruments. >> give you a demo first? >> demo. ♪ >> that was awesome. >> all right. your turn. >> before i knew it, i was making some crazy sounds. ♪ i had created a hip-hop party. ♪ under the sun i let the day glow ♪ ♪ we're filming the segment for the -- today show ♪ >> finally, i caught up with the creator of five point. our camera caught him working on a masterpiece. hoda and kathie at five points, check it out. i love the ipod, love the wine,

i love you got it right. she's a chardonnay girl. >> left a little to get your hands dirty. >> this is going to be fun. i notice you kept it to the easier parts maybe. >> first of all, spray away, nice speed to not worry about drips. >> i love you're painting a rainb rainbow. >> there's no mistakes in spray paint. are you sure you've never done it before? >> if i did, i wouldn't admit it, this is the only legal place to do it. looks excellent. thank you. kathie lee and hoda want to see the man who put them on the side of the building. they look skinny. you did a girl justice. the building suffered some very minor damage during hurricane sandy, but fortunately the artwork is all still standing. >> i would love to suggest he goes back there and there's a little room to the left of me to put our baby sister sara in there. >> sneakers, heels do not belong. >> that was really great.

what do you do about tipping. >> bad service, should you tip, should you not? go! go now for olive garden's new dinner today, dinner tomorrow. two dinners for two nights just $12.95. choose one of five entrees tonight. then take home a different entrée for tomorrow. two nights of deliciousness for just $12.95! go olive garden. sure, bisquick makes delicious pancakes, but that's just the start. unleash the hidden power of bisquick. see what you can make at bisquick.com.

well, with the walmart credit card special financing offer, you can get the sony blu-ray home theater system with wi-fi and the high zoom cyber-shot camera with full hd. look at you, spreading some christmas joy! my cart's kinda full. mind holding these? sure. you know what, muscle man, me and you together, we can knock this christmas thing out. this way, sweetie. [ male announcer ] get the season's hottest brands like the sony blu-ray home theater system. make an electronics purchase of $429 or more on your walmart credit card and get no interest if paid in full within 18 months. america's gift headquarters. walmart. at 10:26, we have an update to the breaking news we are following in the central valley. fresno police are responding to a workplace shooting in fresno. this happened at the apple valley farms. a meat processing plant. four people have been shot. one person has died. two are in critical condition. one is listed in serious

condition. we understand the gunman shot himself, but he is listed in critical condition. officials say that gunman was an employee. we will have more for you as this story develops out of fresno. we'll take a look at the forecast and the roads after the break. this is hayden. that's elizabeth. and that's skyler... and his mom, nancy. they're just a few of the californians who took it on themselves to send you a message about what they need to restore years of cuts to their schools. prop thirty-eight.

thirty-eight raises billions in new revenue - bypasses sacramento and sends every k through 12 dollar straight to our local schools... every school. for them. for all of us. vote yes on thirty-eight. welcome back. time now is 10:28. taking a live look. a little hazy here. no fog in downtown san francisco. temperatures are climbing in the 70s in many cities.

86 degrees in livermore. 85 in fairfield. 81 in fremont. 80 in san francisco. today at 11:00, we will tell you about the system of low pressure that will bring copious amounts of rain. that is all today at 11:00. let's talk to mike about your drive. it is not fog, it is fog with a sm. not much longer. we have the lights turned off at 11:00. we still have slowing in the south bay and the east bay. here is the south bay. overall, pretty good. we have an accident involving a couple of cars blocking the slow lane. an absence is on the scene. slow from capital up to kertner. back to you. don't forget to get out and vote. nbc bay area is live all day long as voters head to the

polls. in 30 minutes, we will have your local, state and national election coverage. see you soon. we're back on this booze day tuesday with more of "today." we find ourselves in awkward situations where we're not sure where to tip somebody. >> a recent study found more than a third of us found that 25% is the more 15%. >> i don't. >> we hit the streets to find out what you think the standard should be. take a look. >> a good percentage to tip someone actually depends on the service, but if i have to give a numerical, 18%. >> as a waitress, i expect or hope for 20% to 22%, 23%. >> biggest tip i've given someone is $50 on a $25 meal. she was such a great waitress, wonderful. >> worst tip i ever received was from the sweetest french couple, and i was practicing my french with them and we had a great

rapport, but i think they didn't understand the tipping policy and left 37 cents. >> the best tip i've given somebody is $120, it was a tip to a limo driver. actually, we all tipped him well for a great time. >> bad service, i've left a penny once. i have to admit. >> usually as a colorist, we receive our tips in envelopes and they get handed to us. sometimes it's empty, and it just says thank you. >> i would say the worst tip i've gotten is you're a great waiter. >> oh, all right. >> debra is the senior editor of "forbes" travel guide. hey, girl. >> since when did it change to 25%? i got used to the 20%. >> there is tip inflation, but 20% is more the norm. >> maybe in new york 25% for a lot of people. >> i thought it was different, too, breakfast or lunch as

opposed to a fine dinner. has that changed, too? >> i don't think it's changed, per se, but here's the thing, tipping is not optional. even if it's bad service, tip 10%. you never know the reason for the service. >> i don't necessarily agree with that. if it's really bad, you need to speak to the manager or maitre d' and get a discount because the food was horrible, then you give a tip. >> i get many people -- >> they make bad money. >> here's the thing, you want to get a good tip, most of the time put more energy and more passion into what you do to serve people. i gave a huge tip the other day to a cab driver and he didn't even say thank you. he's being rude and not being grateful. >> it's a circle. the circle of giving and receiving, and if you don't say thank you, then it sort of fires back on the other person, you feel terrible. >> hoda goes, you're welcome. >> i say it out loud, if they don't say thank you.

say you're on a takeout-y place where you call it in and there's a tip jar or something there. >> they haven't really served you. >> leave a tip. >> i agree. >> they are taking the time out of their day to serve you and not the other people who are there and they are not compensated extra for it. >> i feel that's their job. i think if they did something extra, you leave something, but i don't understand the philosophy of takeout and tipping. >> i think in the u.s. -- >> if they deliver it to you. >> okay. >> kind of like the woman who said 37 cents, i think in the u.s. the tendency is if you touch it, you tip it. there is an expectation that people who work in the service industry are not compensated and we don't include it in the bill, so you have to give that extra amount. >> mandatory, put it in the thing. >> some restaurants they do. >> maybe take advantage of that as well and not serve. >> there was a hairstylist

there. what if you go and get your hair colored, i can't believe she got an empty envelope, but sometimes the owner of the shop colors your hair. is it weird to tip the owner? >> you tipped everybody else except the owner. now, you know, now it's questionable. i know you say absolutely. >> you say tip the owner? what do you say? >> the owner has all the extra expense. my mother's rule, was the owner is making all the extra money. today, it's questionable. >> you're a far more generous person. >> i think if i were hanging out with you, i'd have to have a bag of money. >> if your friend doesn't tip, you need to pick up the flak. >> one of the worst things is you split the bill and watch what your friends leave as a tip and i've gone back after. i think i left my scarf because i feel so crummy. >> get new friends and cut them for what they are worth. >> what i'll do now is say what

are we going to tip them so that we talk about it and agree on it so they are at least thinking about it. >> what did she say? >> we were tuned out for just a second. >> ladies, thank you, that was really great. >> you're both so generous. ♪ jill martin has the hottest trends to warm you up. by the way, ms. jill has been doing good deeds all over this town and we're awfully proud of her. ♪ [ dog barking ] ♪ [ female announcer ] life is full of little tests, but your basic paper towel can handle them. especially if that towel is bounty basic. the towel that's durable, and scrubbable. in this lab demo, bounty basic is stronger than the leading bargain brand. everyday life? bring it with bounty basic. the strong but affordable picker-upper... now costs even less. yeah it's a... it's threemendous. [ male announcer ] say hello to mcdonald's new cbo.

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today's style is brought to you by yoplait. it is time for today's style, and just because temperatures around the country are dropping, doesn't mean it's an excuse to lose your look. >> yeah. scarves and hats to winter

coats, even gloves for sipping champagne. "today" and us weekly contributor and author jill martin has affordable trends for us. >> cheers. >> she's been delivering hot meals and a lot of the things you'll see today, the accessories will be given to people today. god bless you, jill, thank you. >> i want to start with what you're wearing, because carolina amato, everyone is asking me who dresses the talent, you, savannah, sara, natalie. all the accessories when you're outside. starting at $19 you can get in on it. you're wearing some of the things right now, scarves and gloves. >> thank you. >> and the bubbly. >> this is a limited edition. marcjacobs.com for $35. they've taeeamed up with the yellow label for these gloves. if you're having an outdoor

concert or fiesta, you can give these out, they are cashmere, they are great and come in a nice little case. and we get to drink champagne. coming up next, trendy jackets. these are from h&m. all under $50. >> i like that. >> look at the belt. can you see the little -- it's ornate. see a little detailing. really inexpensive. going into the holiday season, then go with something bright or more conservative, something with a little more style. >> that looks like burberry. it's not burberry. >> now ll bean. this is dash. >> he looks like he's going skiing. >> this is the latest ll bean wear. you can get something for the whole family, it's really warm. stephanie is highlighting the

new trend, faux fur. >> these are hot. >> we made a deal if he was quiet he could have a donut. now it's donut time. aren't these great, keep your wine warm. restoration hardware, it becomes totally warm as if you want to be warmer. >> love it. >> starting at $9. to keep it warm or cool for the if you're going out on a picnic and these are just to keep in your pocket. everything you see here is under $50. >> so much of the faux fur when it first came out was really scratchy. this is soft. >> this is coldwatercreek.com. more accessories here. everything under $50. >> that's faux also. >> now we are debuting the holiday collection from uggs. >> ugg, i know it, but i wear both. i shouldn't say it. >> i wear two, so i call them uggs. >> uggs boots, this is the

holiday collection for men, women, and children. starting at $60 and go up from there. depending on your price point, i want to show you what's out right now. you are wearing the classic style. >> they last forever. i got 10-year-old uggs. >> now you're showing off. >> two ugg, one ugg. echodesigns.com. i thought of you. the headphones are built in. >> i love those. >> these are cute, and i love the patterns here. also they have the finger-less and tech gloves. everybody loves their accessories. i love this. >> these are so cute. >> computerdashapparel.com. it holds everything. i kept this back here to show you. there's a pocket here for your ipod. >> are you kidding? >> then on the back you can put -- >> all kinds of stuff. >> those are my notes for the show in case everyone was wondering. >> that's adorable. >> i like it. >> also a great gift for $40. then you need a great umbrella.

this is perko.com if you want to give the gift of looking cool. then i'm about to get wet, or do you want to get wet? >> should we spray you? >> sara is in a finished version, this is an umbrella from restoration hardware. you spray it, it's supposed to be when it's downpour. >> oh, my gosh. >> it changes color. you can be the trendy colorful one. >> here it is. it's showing, it's coming. >> kids, we're going to roll. that was awesome. >> thank you, jill. coming up, an election day meal that will get your vote in "today's" kitchen after this. at yoplait, we want you to feel even better about your favorite flavors. so when you call, tweet, and post, we listen. that's why yoplait light and yoplait original are now made with no high fructose corn syrup. and why we use only natural colors

and natural flavors in yoplait original. so, anything else we can do for you, let us know. but you'll keep it to yogurt, right? 'cause we shouldn't really help with your love life. yoplait. it is so good! 'cause we shouldn't really help go now for olive garden'se. new dinner today, dinner tomorrow. two dinners for two nights just $12.95. choose one of five entrees tonight. then take home a different entrée for tomorrow. two nights of deliciousness for just $12.95! go olive garden. tomato, obviously. haha. there's more than that though, there's a kick to it. wahlalalalallala! smooth, but crisp. it's kind of like drinking a food that's a drink, or a drink that's a food, woooooh! [ male announcer ] taste it and describe the indescribable. could've had a v8.

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kitchen what's cookin'. >> we are exercising our democratic right to indulge in a delicious red, white, and blue meal. good to see you. >> congratulations on your new baby girl. >> thank you very much. >> how exciting, huh? >> great stuff. >> we're making a red, white, and blue meal. >> we're going to start with some risotto. there's nothing that says american like italian food. starting with risotto, i have shallots, a touch of crushed red pepper inside there. i'm going to start the process, toast it a bit, then add some white wine. >> what kind do you use, you don't use an expensive white wine? >> no, no, no. chardonnay, something a little bit bright, not too okaoaky. >> then okay. >> chicken broth we cook it

with. i'm adding some beef puree to make it red. pink peppercorns, which i love the flavor combination, pink peppercorns and beets. finish it with a bit of butter, parmesan cheese, and then just mix it all up to this beautiful color. >> look at that. >> that is a thing of beauty. >> beets are interesting. people either love them or they hate them. i used to hate them until i actually tasted one. i love them. they are so good for you. >> they are great. raw beets in salad, also. i have this here -- >> what is this, a cheese? >> it's a cheese. it's a little bit funky. has a really great flavor to it. >> i don't like my food funky, but go ahead. >> i like it a little funky. >> of course, you do. >> so i will say this -- >> hoda can't have a bite

because of the cheese. >> this is white bean soup with panchetta and horseradish. >> look what's happening there with horseradish. >> is there cream? >> no cream in there. >> try that, hoda. >> that's good. that's good. that is the blue drink. >> yeah, we tried it. >> i love this. i got to say. this is really good stuff. >> we get lucky sometimes. >> delicious. >> the horseradish adds a nice element in the back end. it's good. >> also funky. >> not as funky. >> all the recipes, by the way, on our website, klgandhoda.com. yoga poses you can do at your desk, but first this is "today" on nbc. ♪

[ female announcer ] this is the story of joycelin... [ joycelin ] it was a typical morning. i was getting ready for work, and then i got this horrible headache, and then i blacked out. [ female announcer ] ...who thought she had reached the end of her story. [ joycelin ] the doctor told me i had two brain aneurysms and that one of them had ruptured. [ female announcer ] fortunately, she was treated at sutter health's california pacific medical center. [ joycelin ] the nurses and doctors were amazing, and they were like a second family to me. and now i'm back to doing what i love. [ female announcer ] california pacific medical center and sutter health. our story is you. ♪ in everything you do [ female announcer ] add your own ingredients to hamburger helper for a fresh take on a quick, delicious meal. it's one box with hundreds of possibilities.

progresso. in what world do potatoes, bacon and cheese add up to 100 calories? your world. ♪ [ whispers ] real bacon... creamy cheese... 100 calories... [ chef ] ma'am [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

time to get fit with kathie lee and hoda with yoga at the

office. if you sit hunched over your computer all day long, you probably have sore shoulders or a strained back. >> but there are stretches you can do at your desk without looking completely ridiculous. lauren should know, a yoga coach and spectacular person. see some of the moves this woman has heard. >> that's what i heard. >> anyway, tell us what you can do at our own desk. >> i picked ones you won't look too silly at your desk doing. it's all about having a elongated, decompressed spine, gives you more oxygen. >> hi, sara. >> sara is here. >> we can't spread this. >> you can sit four hours in front of your computer before you know it. it weakens the back. >> what are we doing, i missed the whole thing. >> nice and straight, head back, forward and stretch the neck. inhale up and exhale forward. a few times to get that flexion

extension going. >> does feel good. >> the next one we're going to do, sit back in your chair, a nice spinal twist. be more mindful of your technique. be nice and tall, then on your exhale, you twist. inhale get tall and exhale twist. might even get a back crack out of it. >> i just did. >> and the other side, always. chin over the shoulder. and another thing that happens at the desk is you get stiffness in the hips. you get up and feel, oh, so we're going to do pigeon. if you're in a dress, you're going to just cross your legs. we don't want any situations, but if you're in pants, you're going to go into a figure four, nice flex foot to protect the knee, sit up nice and tall, and pull forward, leaning with the heart. you feel a nice hip stretch. sara girl, hip-hop sara, i should say. >> sara's got moves. >> don't forget the other side

always. all right, all right, you can go other side. then the best stretch ever is bringing your hands back. want to sit on the edge of your chair and grabbing the chair. you're more flexible, your palms can face out. go like you're on the the bow of a ship. heart throw, head back. >> queen of the world! >> i said the exact same thing. >> do whatever you want, as long as you feel open. >> that feels good. >> nice, deep breaths. >> put a post-it to remind yourself, once in the morning, once in the afternoon, right? >> just get the spine open. >> thank you. >> you're welcome, you're welcome. coming up tomorrow, guess who's here. >> twilight actress nikki reen! >> styles for kids. >> have a great tuesday, see you at "scandalous" tonight. don't forget to vote!